Monday, March 9, 2009

Act 3: Scene 1 (Alexander Fodor)

Post your essay in this comment stream if you think this is the best version of the soliloquy.

2 comments:

Berlineda P.6 said...

In Act 3 scenes 1 of Hamlet, writing by William Shakespeare, the deliverance of the line “to be or not to be” which is a question that is being ask from Hamlet to himself, has know for/and especially the most famous speech in literature. In speaking of this soliloquy, Hamlet wonders on how his life has started to shape and if he wants to continue living his life like this or whether he want his life to be over. But then in the rest of his soliloquy he has switch turns and asking himself of the unknowing, what death may hold for him. At this point of the play the author of the book Hamlet brings out a big step into the play that most reader won’t notice, and with that being said remembering that the title of this book isn’t “Hamlet” but it was mention at the beginning of the book that the title is “the tragedy of “Hamlet” prince of Denmark” by combining those two together it has officially tells us on how the process of Hamlet wanted to end his life is being played and what will happen next.

Despite the know hardships of remaining alive, Hamlet’s decision doesn’t only makes him wondering what will happen after he’s gone, but also will makes his stepfather, and could-be father in law polonius a bit worried about him. In act 3 scene 1 line 176, the king, though speaking with a voice soft enough for Hamlet not to hear “his affections do not that way tend” which referrers to them thinking that Hamlet craziness over Polonius daughter isn’t what makes Hamlet speaking like that, that it must something else or that Hamlet is finally going crazy. Though at some point of the play it didn’t refers to Hamlet that the King and Polonius has being hiding and listening to all that he was saying, it makes it seems like he was being diverse about everything that he really was saying. Having to go the pains living with a betrayed father that has dishonor his late father, and to being put in a position of his family thinking that he might/become crazy, and his friends not acting the same way that they used to act, it seems that who he used to be has change and he was living someone else’s life.

A general theme that is within the play seems to be "the power of the mind over the passions.” That is because Hamlet is the best of both mind and body - careful thought with swift execution. A better understanding of that would be on act 2 scene 2 with Polonius an Hamlet having some kind of conversation but all Hamlet is doing is ditching on Polonius and yet while he was saying weird words to Polonius, he was saying them with a way that kept secrets within in them, and Polonius noticing the secrets among them “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” By the time this part of the play comes, the thought of suicide does not exist for Hamlet. He's bent on revenge. "To be..." should be read, "to be conscious" or aware enough to succeed.

Visualizing and hearing the tone of each and every one of the videos, it is seems that the second video by Alexander Fodor fits the play exquisitely. Having to know and understanding the starts of the play, even though in the second video, it shows a dead body and more people surrounding the dead body which was in attention. With that being said I still think that it is appropriate for the play, the dead body, the people around the body being kiss, and the guy making a tape of his soliloquy seems to be fitted well with the whole play. The reason for that is that in the first video show the character that is playing Hamlet standing at a mirror and asking himself question that just seems like thing he memorize from a play or something, and having a mirror in a situation like through the video off key because it officially make the play look blah and things look fake, the music didn’t go with what he was saying. Overall the actor look fake like what he was saying wasn’t deeply thought of and was sneaky about it. The sound the author uses was like a more dramatic sound brings the whole play to a different dimension. And if watching closely you will see that at exactly 2:44 when the character playing Hamlet was switching form his soliloquy to talking with Ophelia, in the play it make him seems more caring about her than in the video, in the video it make Ophelia look like she was disturbing him from something importing, with him posing before even talking to her

The other video by Laurence Olivier was out of the question on whether or not it could have an option to compare with Hamlet’ s style. From the start of the play with it being play next to a river, throws it off, the clothing that other uses to identify Hamlet view of craziness way, show it to but them it’s the way that the character playing Hamlet starts saying the line that makes it more disturbing to even wanted to watch it. Though in the second video that is being played that it skip the line “and by sleep say….” Most of the time you will find a disturbing to mess such a beautify soliloquy like Hamlet’s because of the character in the video 2 playing the role of Hamlet, handle the soliloquy so well that you don’t mind that there are a few words that aren’t suppose to be in place. The character shows deepness into the words that was offered to be act, and shows passion into the words. Even when the author switch ways to, making the camera zoom in so that we could see the deepness that the lines are being offered that most of them are really extravagant, I was watching the actors eyes while the sound of the words that was speaking track me into wanted to listening to that sadness, and questions that he was asking himself demanding himself to answers to. The music in the back ground brought in emotion that surrounds the fact that most people wanted something to catch their attention, and saying that getting the readers to understand the burning questions mark that and the whole soliloquy factor that still for most people leaves questions that need to be ask and more to be understanding, leave a choice to measuring the possibility of getting the vibe that is needed to surround the play entirely.

Alex J 7 said...

In the videos that portray hamlets soliloquy, I chose the one that shows the most emotion. I feel this one is the best to depict how hamlet is really feeling about the whole situation. He is questioning life itself “To be or not to be-that is the question” (line 64 act3) like as if he feels life is meaningless. It begins with him recording and an eerie music is playing in the background. The director also chooses to shoot the actor in half screens sometimes to represent a sort of terse movement. Then as the director zoom in on his face when the actor speaks makes the scenario all the more intense. Also on the beginning, the director also chooses to show a close up of his eyes and the particular tape recorder he is using to get his soliloquy captured to remember it.
Then as the video progresses, it goes back in time or perhaps the future to show what would happen or maybe this is the past, I can’t tell. This is hamlets father and everyone is kissing him to show how he is being missed by hamlet and this may have to do with why he is acting so crazy toward everyone else. It also takes about 30 seconds before he actually starts his soliloquy. The eyes on the actor are also a large part of this video which illustrates a characters feelings. He also questions whether he should keep fighting for his life when he says “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles And, by opposing, end them.” (line 67-68) which in the video, I can feel how possibly he wants to ends and be no more. There is no expression on his face and the camera is focused specifically again on his eyes. The director then goes back into the past(or the future) with all his important characters present: hamlet, ophelia and another girl that I am not familiar with. There are also long streams of half screens of his face andd expressionless as if hes already dead inside to the world. Then as the video starts to end, they zoom in on his right eye and again it gets extreme with the shot.
Theres not that many shots of the tape recorder hes using. It could suggest that he gets so into the speech that he forgets its there and is really talking to his father. In the times the director chooses to go back in time, there is a sort of green tinge to the film another eerie sign that shows up amongst the video. He slows down the film time also to give the motionless and lifeless effect and show the audience how hamlet is really feeling. In the movie at 19 seconds there is a part where the past is being shown and it then directly zooms right to his eyes but this time it is only his eyes and nothing else. When they go back in time, it also seems like the events of the past are happening again at this time in the present once again because of the way the director chooses to show the actor in the scene. They don’t show the microphone after a while progresses in the time of his soliloquy. It seems as though he is speaking to someone and not to himself. He is staring off into space but not in a manner like he isn’t in the room.
The color of his shirt looks as if it is black, as are all the other characters clothing. There is a light in the back of hamlet that could represent a sort of heaven. There is also a lack of color throughout the film. There really isn’t any bright, vibrant color. You cant see the background of the film at all. There is only the white light and his face and then the other characters. The clothing also could show a possible funeral that happened and could be predicting one that is coming soon. You can also tell how he is looking at something in the distance and is focusing on it very hard. At most points he does not acknowledge the camera at all, but toward the end he looks slightly at the at it and then gets more noticeable as the film progresses. There also isn’t much background music other than the eerie type that shows how something could happen then ending with it topping off the seriousness with bells, another funeral sign or a possible wedding sign.