Monday, March 9, 2009

Act 3: Scene 1 (Kenneth Branagh)

Post your essay here if you think this is the best version of this soliloquy.

28 comments:

Kyle G. 6 said...

Kyle Goodman

The story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare contains one of the most famous speeches of all time. The line “to be or not to be” (l3:1 line 64) is a famous line that is still used today. Over time, thousands of different actors have tried to re act the famous Hamlet speech. Some actors re-enact this famous speech exactly, but others try changing the speech and taking away the originality of its content. Among these actors are Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. Some of these performances are copied exactly from the text, and others are changed and made completely different. This speech is very important to the plot of the story. This speech can possibly mean the death of Hamlet. This speech is crucial to the plot of the book because of Hamlet plan for possible suicide.
The first re-enactment of this speech was performed by the actor Kenneth Branagh. This re-enactment is the most accurate representation of this great speech. In this scene, Hamlet is starring into a mirror asking himself in line 63, “To be or not to be.” The way that Branagh delivers this line if identical to the way Hamlet delivered the line in the text. Hamlet is simply asking himself what he should do. Should he end his life or not. This re-enactment of this speech was almost perfect. The tone the actor used was the same tone Hamlet was speaking with in the book. One of the major errors this actor made was that he skipped one of the most important lines in the speech. “and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”(3:1 line 69). That line is extremely important because it explains how Hamlet is contemplating suicide. It explains how he want to “end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks” he has experienced in his life. In my opinion, that line is very important and the actor should have read it instead of reading right over it.
The next re-enactment in my opinion is the worst re-enactment of this speech. In this video, Alexander Fodor is playing Hamlet. In this scene, Hamlet seems to be in a daze, or a dream. The beginning of the scene involves Hamlet kissing a dead body who can possibly be his father. Instead of holding a knife and planning suicide, Hamlet is recording his voice on a radio. This re-enactment is very inaccurate due to the fact that Hamlet is standing with a group of people in this scene, not by himself. At the end of the speech Hamlet says, “The fair Ophelia. Nymph in thy orisons. Be all my sins remembered” (3:1 line 97.) In the text, Hamlet’s tone sounds very angry and vengeful and the speech has a lot to do with Ophelia and his life. His speech seems to have a purpose. In the movie, Hamlet seems to just be rambling on and his speech doesn’t seem to have a purpose. What also makes this speech in-accurate is the fact that Hamlet is not actually talking in the real world. Hamlet is dreaming which means his dream could be telling the viewer what he is thinking, or it could be just a random dream that Hamlet is having. That is why that scene is very in-accurate.
The last scene was acted by Laurence Olivier. This scene was very different than the other scenes. This scene was in black and white. This scene is inaccurate mostly because of the tone of the actor and the scenery. In this scene, Hamlet is standing alone at the edge of a cliff. What’s similar is that he is holding a knife in his hand like Branagh was, but Olivier made the knife look more metaphorical. In line 65, Hamlet says how he is prepared “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles.” The way Hamlet is saying this quotation seems to sound more political than upset. In the other scenes, Hamlet seems to be upset more about Ophelia and the way his life is. This scene done by Olivier doesn’t show enough emotion. It sounds more like Hamlet is addressing his country than showing his emotions.
These scenes tried very hard to re-create this famous Shakespearean speech, but they all were inaccurate at times. Hamlet acted different in all of these performances. Brangh’s Hamlet seemed more angry and suicidal. Fodor’s Hamlet was dreaming, and Olivier’s Hamlet seemed more depressed, but less emotional. The only video scene that displayed this scene as accurate as possible was the scene done by Kenneth Branagh. This actor said all of his lines like Hamlet would have done in the text. His performance also addresses the topic of plotting his death with Polonius and Claudius in the same room. I felt that the other performances were very off-topic. Fodor seemed like he was randomly dreaming, while Olivier didn’t sound as convincing playing Hamlet. That is why Kenneth Branagh’s scene was the most accurate.

tiffany h7 said...

Tiffany Hughes
To be or not to be is probably one of the best well-known lines in American English literature coming from famous writer William Shakespere. What does hamlet mean when he speak those lines? Even today, after so many years since it was written, most people still don't understand the familiar lines from shakespere even though they know the play. I wonder what gives these 34 famous lines such appeal and recognition around the world. The movie portrays Hamlet as a very confused man. He is very unsure of himself and often wavers between two extremes. In the movie, he contemplates death over whether he should commit suicide or seek revenge for his father's death. The movie also shows how Hamlet think things over too much. From the analysis over life and death he comes to the thought that he would rather live and seek revenge for father's death than die. So he follows out his plans and kills Claudius. Evidence of his unsureness, and thinking too much is shown in his speech throughout that whole scene.
In the movie, Hamlet thinks of commiting suicide. His character is clearly shown in this speech. The speech itself shows that he thinks too much. He is thinking between the two extremes: life and death. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them" (3, 1, 56-60). He wonders whether he should live and suffer or die and end the suffering. He believes that life comes with a great deal of suffering and pain. The "whips and scorn of time, Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th'unworthy takes" (3, 1, 70-74) are all the suffering he sees in life. He's thinking about whether or not he should live through these pains of life. "To die, to sleep -no more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks...To sleep, perchance to dream" (3, 1, 60-65). If he chooses death all his pains and heartaches would end. He would not have to worry about Claudius, Gertrude or any other aspect of his life that bothers or causes him stress. The only thing keeping him from death is the mystery behind daeth, what you go through after you die, what lies behind death. The "dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will" (3, 1, 78-80). In his speech, "To Be or Not To Be," Hamlet shows his character to be confused, fickle, and an over thinker. He shows this by his attitude towards life and death. How he compares the two and analyzes them both shows that he over analyzes everything that he does. He thinking about death shows his confusion.He learns from the contemplation over life and death that he would rather live and avenge his father's death than die. Partly because the unknown after death scares him and the other part is because he wants revenge.
The first re-enactment is the one that I chosed that I thought was the better version. In the movie the actor Kevin Branagh protrays Hamlet as this confused character, confused about life and death. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them" (3, 1, 56-60). When Branagh read those famous lines in the movie it was so intense to me, i felt his intensity through his acting, the way he read thoses lines made me believe his acting. In the movie Branagh made his acting seem so personal the reason being is because when he read his line "to be or not to be" Hamlet is staring at himself through a mirror, reading those lines to himself it just seem so personal he's looking at hisself talking about life and death, while the other two didn't seem that personal in the movie. And also the way he was dressed in the color black maybe depicts the darkness that surounds him, meaning of the hatred that he has for his mother and uncle and the death of his father by his uncle claudius. the definition of black is: gloomy; pessimistic; dismal, deliberately; harmful; inexcusable, boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening, based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life, done or written in black to indicate, as on a list, that which is undesirable, sub-standard, potentially dangerous. I believe those black clothing on Hamlets back indicates everything that he is feeling inside. The tone of Hamlet was very calm at first and than his voice was starting to get intense when he pulls the knife out and puts the knife to his face
In the second re-enactment Alexander Fodor is playing Hamlet. In the scene Hamlet seems to be confused or kind of in a dream. When the movie started you see Hamlet giving this dead looking man a kiss that i believe is Hamlet's father and other people are kissing the dead man also. The reason why I don't like that version is because Hamlet is tailking to this voice recorderabout whether he should live or die for me I thoughtit was pretty weird. You also see hamlet contemplating if he should commit suicide or not and relieve all of his pain and he's also thinking about killing his uncle for his father's death in front of a group of people in this white room. Hamlets tone seem calm, confused, and in a dream like state of mind. When I seen the video it really didn't connect with me, I didn't feel that that version was the right one.
In the third re-enactment Laurence Oliver stars as Hamlet. The movie was okay it was better than the second version but it wasn't the best overall, the reason being is because I didn't like the scenary/ black and white, him being on top of a cliff. Hamlet is sitting on a cliff watching the waves go back and fourth and contemplating whether he should commit suicide or live and avenge his father for his death by killing his uncle king Claudius. To me it seems like Hamlet is adressing nature about the way he feels/ his emotions about life and death instead of adressing himself. The tone of the scene seem gloomy and dark, the tone of Hamlet was the same in the second version, they were both calm
The reason why I didn't choose one of the other versions of the movie is because I didn't really feel connected to them, the one with Fodor just seem like a regular guy reciting shakespere's lines to a voice recorder. The Laurence Oliver version was good but it didn't seem as convincing as the as the Kenneth Branagh version because he didn't have a lot of emotion in his acting.It seem like they were just acting but the Branagh version seem so real, it seem like he really was Hamlet in my own eyes. Everytime when I look at that version on the movie i believe thats the real version because the way Branagh speak his lines, how he looks at himself through the mirror makes me believe. The way he spoke his lines was so convincing,the Kenneth Branagh version is the reason why I chosed that one.

Mike G7 said...

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the line, “To be or not to be – that is the question:” (64) has become one of the most famous speeches of all time. In this line and the passage following it, Hamlet questions whether or not he should kill himself. In this passage, Hamlet shows expressions of anger and uncertainty while showing us that he could be losing control of himself and his emotions.
From reading the novel of Hamlet and watching the three videos of re-enactments of the speech, I feel that the first video starring Kenneth Branagh is the best re-enactment of Hamlet’s speech. I feel this way for a variety of reasons such as the spacing in the delivery of his speech to the location in which it takes place. I believe that Kenneth Branagh has successfully transformed to be the best actor out of the three, to re-enact Hamlet in this scene.
After watching the first fifteen seconds of the video, I noticed Hamlet’s seriousness in his speech that he is truly considering killing himself. What I feel added to the intensity in this scene is the fact that Hamlet is starring at himself in the mirror. This shows us that he can look himself in the eye and see the person he really is, and to still consider whether or not to kill himself shows us that he is really unsure of what to do.
As the speech goes on, Hamlet steps closer to the mirror and pulls a knife out of his pants and proceeds to hold it against his face. Again, I like the way he continues to look at himself in the mirror as he walks closer because it shows his seriousness. To me, this makes it seem as if he is talking to his soul and debating on whether or not to do it.
The second biggest aspect of this speech that lured me into believing this was the best re-enactment was the delivery of Kenneth Branagh’s lines. When reading the book, I would imagine that the lines would flow in a continuous pattern, but not too fast or too slow. The delivery of the lines in the video contributes to the feelings Hamlet is expressing, and shows us that he is truly a mess and he sounds like a maniac.
The tone used by Kenneth Branagh was also a very important aspect of the speech. From reading the book, I thought that lines such as, “To die, to sleep – no more – and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” (68-71) would be in a risen voice or in an angered tone. In the video, Hamlet speaks in a low-toned, whisper-like tone. This shows us that he is trying to speak to himself secretly and does not want anyone to over hear him. Therefore, after watching the video, I feel that the low-toned whisper fits the speech the best.
The lighting and the imagery in the video also added to the way the speech can be viewed. In the video, the room in which the speech takes place is very bright due to the sunlight. One thing I noticed was that the tiled floor has black and white tiles. As I mentioned in the last video critique, I believe the difference in colors shows us the two different sides of Hamlet. It shows us the soft side, which he only shows us sometimes, and the evil side which he is currently showing in the speech. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that Hamlet was dressed in a black suit over a white shirt. Black is usually viewed as the color of death. I feel that it is ironic that Hamlet makes the speech in a well-lightened place while wearing mostly black. This difference in colors could show us how Hamlet is continuing to rebel and act out against the current king and society. The fact that Hamlet is wearing the black suit over the white shirt could show us that Hamlet’s evil side in finally taking over the good Hamlet, which could be foreshadowing the rest of the novel.
A thing that interested me was how in the video, Hamlet proceeded to give his speech in front of the mirror on the door in which Polonius and the king were hiding behind. This brings up the question, “Did Hamlet want them to hear him?” or did it just happen to be that Hamlet decided to look into that mirror. It is also questionable because before Hamlet pulls the knife to his own face he proceeds to point it to the mirror, which is when the camera then flashes to Polonius and the king who are in shock behind the door.
The music in the movie also propels the feelings and the tone of Hamlet in this scene. The music is a calm, low-pitched music that has random sharp outbursts. This ties in with the way that Hamlet is talking to himself in a quiet whisper, but at points, changes his tone.
Overall I believe that in this scene Hamlet is showing us a change that will occur in the near future of the book, especially with the play coming up. I think that Kenneth Branagh did a great job in re-enacting the scene from act three scene one and that he fulfilled the character of Hamlet better than the characters in the other two movies. I also think that the director’s choice of lighting, costumes, and the fact that Hamlet was starring at himself in the mirror helped stress the feelings going through Hamlet’s mind. I also like the way in which the director left it as a mystery to us whether or not Hamlet knew that Ophelia’s father and the king where listening to him.

jonathanB7 said...

Jonathan Bastos
Ryan Gallagher
English12cp


Hamlet by William Shakespeare contains one of the most famous speeches of all time. It starts with“to be or not to be” ( line 64) is the line can be remembered today. Countless actors have tried to reenact the speech. Whether they do justice or not is the audiences choice. The actors that were given were Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. This speech is the most important part of the play without it it wouldn’t be Hamlet. It seems that Hamlet is contemplating suicide. The first re-enactment of this speech was performed by the actor Kenneth Branagh.
Kenneth Branagh did the most justice to the play. The director uses a mirror. Hamlet stares into the mirror asking himself in line 63, “To be or not to be.” A great deal of emotion is put into this .Should I exist or should I be a dream. The tone the actor used was the same tone Hamlet was speaking with in the book. Although that part was good a line was cut out of the play that went unoticed. “And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to ( line 69). It explains how he wants to “end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks” he has experienced in his life. One minor flaw in the portrayal of the actor.

Next up to play Hamlet was Alexander Fodor. He seems very dull without emotion. In the beginning of the scene it starts with a kiss. Instead of holding a knife and planning suicide, Hamlet is recording his voice on a radio. He was not standing by himself. The point of this was him standing by himself. At the end of the speech Hamlet says, “The fair Ophelia. Nymph in thy orisons. Be all my sins remembered” ( line 97.) Hamlet sounds very full of emotion and anger. In the movie, Hamlet seems to just be dragging on and his speech doesn’t do anything. Hamlet is in a dream not in reality. In the play Hamlet is in reality. That is why that scene is very in-accurate.

The last scene was acted by Laurence Olivier. This scene was very different than the other scenes. This scene was in black and white. This scene is inaccurate mostly because of the tone of the actor and the scenery. Standing at the Edge of a cliff makes no sense. Considering that they are supposed to be behind curtains watching him. He is holding a knife which gives a resemblance to the first portrayal. Hamlet seems to sound like he’s instructing rather than emotion. In the other ones hamlet is upset with his situation and his madness as well as his love for Ophelia. This scene lacks emotion and anger and conviction. He definitely doesn’t seem mad or emotional at all. In these three the actors tried there best to portray the best hamlet they could. It was the directors job though, to go into his mind and think about the way the scene should be laid out and portrayed. But the actor has to show the true emotion in the character. If he doesn’t do that then he did no justice to Shakespeare.

viviana said...

In the play Hamlet By William Shakespeare, the line: “ to be or not to be-that is the question.”(64) Is known as one of Shakespeare’s most famous line of all times. Within that passage Hamlet has a lot going through his mind as well as Hamlet is brining him self down by calling him self names such as whore and many more. Yet Hamlet also tends to ask him self over and over again if he was to kill him self what would happen. Throughout the whole passage Hamlet tends to show depression yet anger toward everything that’s going on around him but especially toward him self. In my opinion I believe that Hamlet at this point of the play he has lost it already and his mentality is completely lost because he has many emotions going on inside of him that he doesn’t know what to do and he feels bad because he hasn’t done anything to revenge his fathers death. The Play was read during class period 7 and the movie was assigned therefore I have paid plenty of attention to the difference among the play and the video clips. Honestly I believe that the best Re-enactment of Hamlets speech is the video clip where Kenneth Barranagh is the actor. I feel this way about the clip because Kenneth Barrangh is able to deliver the message that Shakespeare is trying to convey since the very start of the play. While seeing the video clip I realized that Kenneth Barranagh played the role of Hamlet very well because of the attitude that there seem to be in him, the way that he said “ to be or not to be.” was so serious and full of doubt in him self. Especially when he was considering the fact of killing him self Kenneth Barranagh makes us see and feel how Hamlet felt. What I liked the most of the opening of the video clip was the way that Hamlet can stand in front of a mirror and ask him self over and over if he should kill him self, Hamlet states “no more-and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to-‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-to sleep, perchance to dream.” You can tell that there’s confusion in Hamlets mind and that he wants to just kill him self because he will never wake up and he wont have to worry about anything, and that shows me that he’s un certain of what he wants to do. I feel that by having Hamlet stand in front of the mirror makes the clip more intriguing because once Hamlet is in front of the mirror Hamlet Pulls out a knife and holds it up in his face as if to attempt to commit self slaughter. Yet the way that he plays the role when he’s taking steps closer to the mirror shows his seriousness in committing self-slaughter. It also lets us visualize what was going on in the scene while we were reading it and the video makes it easier for us to understand what was going on. I also believe that the tine of this video is perfect for the play and it helps contribute to the play in the book, when we read a book we read it usually most people tend to read a book with no feeling and others tend to read it with feeling and others simply understand how to read with a tone and while I was reading the book I wasn’t able to understand in what tone Hamlet was trying to say this lines in. While seeing this clip I believe that I got the idea of the tone and now am able to understand it better because now for sure I can judge the fact that Hamlet has completely lost it. Through out the video Hamlets voice is low and is not as loud as I imagined it but in the low voice you can tell that there’s a lot of feelings and emotions mixed into it. Yet you can also tell that Hamlet speaks in total secrecy as if he wants to keep his crazy self to his self. I believe that the surrounding area that Hamlet encounters in can tell us a lot of the actor and the situations that we are to understand. I believe that the different shades in the Big room he finds himself in tell us a lot about him for example a big room= big problem different color shadings = to Hamlets double personality and yet the dim color express his sadness and frustrations that he has inside of him. I also believe that Hamlet is soon to explode and that the crazy him is soon to come out and just let everyone know that he thinks its disrespectful that every one is having a blast while his father’s recent death. I also believe that this line is like foreshadowing to what’s bond to happen through out the play. I think that its ironic how Halmet happens to give the speech in front of the mirror where Polonius and King Claudius was hiding, I ask my self what are Polonius and King Claudius going to think about this especially the king. I also believe that the music falls right in place with the scene because it lets us feel what Hamlet is feeling. I believe this is the best video for the scene because it makes a lot of confusing thing sound understandable. In my opinion I believe that Kenneth Barranagh did a awesome job Re-enacting the scene from the play and that he did a outstanding job act this better than the other two pays. I cannot wait to start the next scene.

amanb_7 said...

The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, has best known for the soliloquy, when Hamlet recites the line “To be or not to be..”(l3:1 line 64). I have watched 3 videos that contained this famous soliloquy of Hamlet but only one was closer to the play. The other 2 videos were some what changed from the original concept of the play. The video I have chosen is the one with Kenneth Branagh acting in it. The director has done a well producing this video because it has almost all of the content of the original play but there are some flaws. Hamlet is simply asking himself what he should do. Should he end his life or not or take revenge for his father’s death. The movie does display Hamlet as a jumble man as it has was written in the play. There are some flaws that have been made by the director there is a line missing which was in the original speech, which was “and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”(3:1 line 69). This line shows the Emo side of hamlet which wasn’t presented very well in the movie. He seems to be more angry then depressed. Hamlet was yelling more then being quiet and having a Emo tone his voice. We have discussed in class why Hamlet be yelling because he might know how king and Polonius are there and listening to his conversation. He probably wants to make the point he is not in crazy in love with Ophelia.

Hamlet imagines of committing suicide but his conscience is jumbling his mind up by thinking if he should kill self or take revenge of his father’s death. He is a deep thinker, as we can see in the movie he is expressing what would happen if he will kill himself.. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them" (3, 1, 56-60). He wonders whether he should live and suffer or die and end the suffering. He thinks that life comes with a great deal of suffering and pain. Hamlet realizes that he is been suffering a lot in his life. Hamlet does believe that if he does kill himself it wont matter to noone not even Claudius or Gertrude. I would think he is imaging this because they never cared about his feeling when they both got married, why would they care if he has killed him self. The two things that is keeping him from dying is the what will happen to him after he dies meaning the life after death "dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will" (3, 1, 78-80). The other reason will be seeing Claudius get caught with the killing of his brother front of all of the people of Denmark. Hamlet has set up a plot to make Claudius commit his crime during the play that will be showing in Denmark.


In the movie the director has set up the scene which displays the ideas that has brought the play to live. Hamlet steps closer to the mirror and pulls a knife out of his pants and proceeds to hold it against his face. This image makes me think that he has a feeling that someone is watching him and they will come out and stop him but second thought he does seem furious about his life what become of his life. Hamlet has turned into a angry young man who has no faith in anyone not even his own mother. The director has portrays Hamlet as a Furious mad man by making him yell and handling a knife against his face. The thing which was a flaw that the director shouldn’t have done is have so much lighting, the lighting makes the mood not that Emo, I have imagined a dark room where the king and Polonius were hiding and Hamlet just letting his feelings flow. The actor Kenneth Bramagh has done a well job acting as a angry young prince who is really upset about his life and how people have broken his trust. The 1ST video is the closer to the concept of the original play, even tho there are some changes and flaws that didn’t make set up the mood as a depressed soliloquy which as been said by a young, emo, angry, confused son who is looking for a revenge for his fathers death.

Chad O 7 said...

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the famous line “To be or not to be-that is the question:” (64) has become very famous throughout history. In this scene, Hamlet is wondering whether or not he should kill himself. I watched three videos of actors trying to act out the famous Hamlet soliloquy, there is Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. However, in my point of view, Kenneth Branagh has the best reenactment of the famous Hamlet for many reasons.

Watching the other two reenactments, I realized that Branagh was doing the best reenactment, because he acted the soliloquy out word for word and had the best delivery of lines, which includes pauses and spaces in the lines. The other two actors however changed it up a bit and used some of there own lines and actions in the videos. The tone of Hamlet in general is a huge aspect to why I chose this reenactment as the best. Branagh uses just the right tones and movements while he is acting his lines throughout the whole soliloquy and keeps me guessing.

Reading the scene, I got the feeling that Hamlet was whispering to himself because he didn’t want any one else to hear him. Then, after watching the scene by Branagh I realized that Branagh was also whispering in a soft tone while looking himself in the mirror just questioning as to what he should do. The other two videos I watched didn’t really inform me on what was actually happening to Hamlet in this scene. Watching Branagh, gave me a great idea that Hamlet has gone insane and may commit suicide. In the play, when Hamlet says “To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream.” (72-73) I figured Hamlet was yelling at the top of his lungs for any one to hear the news that maybe he just may kill himself. Then after watching the video, I realized Hamlet was whispering to himself very discretely while looking himself in the mirror as if he were talking to his soul. Hamlet knows he is alone in this scene and is speaking quietly so he is not heard.

I was very interested in the part of the reenactment, when Hamlet looks himself in the mirror during speaking the soliloquy. It just so happens that Polonius and the king were behind that mirror and it gave me the idea as too did Hamlet know they were behind that mirror and was speaking so they could hear him? Back to the part when Hamlet pulls out his dagger, it shows a quick flash of Polonius and the king and they are frightened. This made me wonder if Hamlet was pulling out the dagger as a sign to Polonius and the king as if they should watch out because he knew they were spying on him and he would get his revenge.

When Hamlet is talking to himself in the mirror, he begins to whisper with a lower tone and says “When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?” (83-84) This signifies that Hamlet is very much interested in killing himself because quietus means to quit, which basically means Hamlet is going to quit his life by killing himself. Then he says with a bare bodkin, which is a dagger of some sort. As Hamlet releases these words, in the play he takes out a dagger as if he is going to cut himself. When the dagger comes out, Hamlet is whispering to his reflection in the mirror and pointing at himself with the dagger as if this may be the end. Branagn does a brilliant job in selling this to me and I figured that at this point while reading the play that Hamlet was speaking loudly as if scared to kill himself, but then realized after watching the scene that Hamlet was whispering very softly.

When Hamlet says “And lose the name of action.” (96) he taps on the mirror with his dagger to signal Polonius and the king to pay attention. Then right after that, Ophelia walks into the room and Hamlet walks over to her and acts very nice and normal as if he were playing around with Polonius and the king and knew they were there. Polonius and the king figured Hamlet would be acting strangely in this scene, but after watching the scene I realized that Hamlet acted normal towards Ophelia to throw off Polonius and the king and make them wonder what is going on.

In conclusion, I believe the reenactment by Kenneth Branagh was the best of the three, because of his excellent word for word display of the famous soliloquy. Branagh acted out this scene answered many questions I had about how this scene was actually happening in Shakespeare’s point of view. After watching the video of Branagh I came to the conclusion that Hamlet knew he was alone, but was just acting strangely because he has gone mad by this point in the play. The other two actors did a very good unique version of Hamlet in their own way, but after analyzing all reenactments, I realized Branagh had the best solutions to my questions in the play.

Jhon V.6 said...

The video that I choose is act 3, scene 1 by Kenneth Branagh. At first, Hamlet is starring into a mirror asking question” To be or not to be.” When Hamlet asks the question to be or not to be, he trying to say that in life they are two options to live or too died. People also used this type of language as in today, the people that’s used it the most is the old people. This speech is very important to the plot of the story. This speech can possibly mean the death of Hamlet. The speech was almost perfect, the think that was the same from the video in the book is the tone the actors used the same tone Hamlet was speaking with in the whole story. When Hamlet said that” And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (3:1 line 69). I noticed that line is very important for the person that reading the story, the reason is from that line is explains how his life was about. His saying that the reason I said that is because the way Hamlet talk in the scene or may be he looking for revenge for his father. They are so many differences in the book and in the video clip, the differences is that the way Hamlet talk in the video, Hamlet is simply asking himself what he should do. Should he end his life or not, because the off his father death, he also didn’t like the way his father died. In the clip I notice that he used the words death so many times on the scene. Looking at the video clip I notice that each word that Hamlet said the camera man zoom in more in more, to show you are mad is Hamlet are. My favorite part in the scene is when Hamlet is starring himself in the mirror, it show us what type a person is hamlet, from what I seen in the video clip I think Hamlet is a very strong person .This also shows us that he can look at himself in the eye and see that person that he really are, and to still consider whether or not to kill. When he looking at the glass you can see on his face how mad he really is and also by the words that are coming off his mouth. In my mind I think that his not happy to see Ophelia, because when he saw her, his face and his attitude completely change. In the begging of the video clip I think in my mind that Hamlet makes a good point, when his said “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them”. I think that in the text, Hamlet’s voice sound very angry and the speech has a lot to do with Ophelia and his life. I also have a feeling that in the beginning of the play that Hamlet didn’t love Ophelia the whole time he was playing with her heart, by tilling her that he love her and after Hamlet finally tell her that I love but I love u once. Hamlet is saying that the best way to end your enemy is to take them by their arms against a sea troubles meaning that Hamlet is going to do illegal acts behavior to the king and Polonius. In the video Hamlet is wearing all black, you can see that Hamlet is very bad when he pull the knife in looks in to the mirror. I think Hamlet speech have a purpose, the purpose to his speech is that Hamlet telling us mean the viewer what is thinking off doing for his rest off his life or thinking about his father death. As the speech goes on, Hamlet steps closer to the mirror and pulls a knife out of his pants and proceeds to hold it against his face. Again, I like the way he continues to look at himself in the mirror as he walks closer. The lighting and the imagery in the video also added to the way the speech can be viewed. In the video, the room in which the speech takes place is very bright due to the sunlight. One thing I noticed was that the tiled floor has black and white tiles. I noticed that colors makes a big difference in this video, the differences the color makes is that it shows us the two different sides of Hamlet, and also what is he talking about. The music also was important to the play the reason why the music was important is because it tells you how that person fell emotion; in this case the music in the scene was calm, low-pitched music. My question is that did Hamlet knew that Ophelia’s father and the king where listening to him the whole scene, because I have a feeling that if he did some of the words that Hamlet was saying he wasn’t going to said them. By looking at Hamlet face you can see the stress on his face. Hamlet personality and yet the color express his sadness and frustrations that he has inside of him. What I liked the most in the video clip is the opening of it, the way that Hamlet can stand in front of a mirror and ask him self over and over if he should kill himself, Hamlet states “no more-and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to-‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-to sleep, perchance to dream.” You can see on his face that he wanted to kill himself so that he won’t have to worry about anything that happening in his life right now. I see Hamlet in the play playing the role of a man looking for revenge for his father death.

Anthony G. 6 said...

Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark most accurately captures Act III Scene I. Like in the book it accurately captures Hamlet’s train of thought. He is contemplating suicide in this particular scene. Hamlet’s open words “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare III, I, l. 64) coincides with Descartes’ (1596-1650) theory “Cognito Ergo Sum” which translates to “I think, therefore I am”. This means that Shakespeare is having Hamlet essentially say that he is not sure weather or not he should continue to live. Branagh’s interpretation most accurately captures Hamlet’s tone and the scenery of the scene most accurately fits with the story as written by Shakespeare’s version.

The tone of Hamlet during this particular soliloquy is particularly morbid. Why wouldn’t it be, he was contemplating suicide there isn’t much that would be more morbid then considering killing yourself. In Branagh’s interpretation it is clear that hamlet is not in a good place mentally or emotionally just because of how he looks and how he is talking. His emotional state is later confirmed in Shakespeare’s text when he has Hamlet say “I loved you not” (Shakespeare III, I, l. 129) to Ophelia, whom Hamlet clearly did have feelings for. If he hadn’t had feelings for her then why would he have gone to see her first after having talked with the ghost of his father. In Fodor’s interpretation of Act III scene I of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark Hamlet appeared to be overly calm. He seems not to be contemplating suicide but to be having a philosophical conversation. There isn’t enough depression in his voice. He doesn’t seem really upset. In Olivier’s interpretation this soliloquy is too much of a speech. When Hamlet talks it seems rehearsed almost practiced and memorized. It takes away from the believability that Hamlet is actually considering killing himself. Branagh’s interpretation is the only one that’s tone actually fits with Shakespeare’s text.

The scenery is the other thing that made Branagh’s interpretation of this particular soliloquy most believable of the three. In Fodor’s interpretation Hamlet appears to be at a funeral or in an autopsy room. This doesn’t fit with Shakespeare’s text. After this soliloquy Hamlet has a whole conversation with Ophelia that both there fathers listen in on. If Hamlet is at a funeral that why would he have a whole conversation with Ophelia about there relationship. On the other hand if he is in an autopsy room or some other similar room then there wouldn’t be anywhere for the dads to listen in on the conversation from. The scenery prevents it from properly coinciding with Shakespeare’s text even if all else were perfect. In Olivier’s interpretation Hamlet was on the roof of a castle. This isn’t an expert statement and there is no evidence to support it but don’t most castles have flat roofs without much on them just like in Fodor’s interpretation there is nowhere for the parents to hide and listen to the conversation with Ophelia that would occur after the soliloquy is finished. Finally in Branagh’s interpretation Hamlet is in a large hall. It has many rooms which the parents could easily hide behind and listen to the conversation that would occur afterwards.

Branagh’s interpretation is the only interpretation that actually fits with Shakespeare’s text of the three provided. Hamlets tone and way of speaking was similar to that which a reader could believe true of ho Hamlet would have actually spoken. Also it was the only one that had scenery that would actually make it possible for later scenes to occur properly.

Dian z 7 said...

The book Hamlet by William Shakespeare contains lots of famous lines, one of the most famous line should be the line “To be or not to be—that is the question” (line 64). The reason why the line “To be or not be—that is the question” so famous is that the line contains profound philosophy of the meaning of life. Whether is it nobler to suffer the misfortunes or to take arms against a sea of troubles? And also the line (64) strongly expresses the characterization of hamlet. The speech of hamlet deeply cogitate the meaning of life. In hamlet’s view, the death is the best way to get rid of misfortunes and heartache (line 65-70), but no one have the courage to die because no one knows about what dream would come in the sleep of death (line 76). Because of the fear of the unknown world, people would rather to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than to choose the end the life. Over time, numerous actors tried to act the famous speech as hamlet himself, but only a few of the actors act successfully according to the book Hamlet. Some actors even change the background of place where hamlet should be in order to express the feeling of hamlet while he is speaking the famous speech. The changes totally change the connection of the play. Among the three actors Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier, I think the performance by Kenneth Branagh is the best among the three performances. Because the performance by Kenneth Branagh is closest to the original contents of the book Hamlet and also the most accurately express the feeling of hamlet while he is speaking the line. According to the performance by Kenneth Branagh, hamlet is standing before a mirror, facing to the mirror and talking to himself. The look of hamlet should be sullen and desperate, Kenneth Branagh acts perfectly as Hamlet. The way of speaking of Kenneth is identical to the way of hamlet speaks. The tone of Kenneth is hoarse and sorrowful, that exactly express the feelings of hamlet. Standing before the mirror, hamlet is asking himself a profound philosophical question. He wants to end his life, because the misfortunes almost crash him down. The ruthless murder of his father, the incestuous marriage of his mom with his uncle, the unhappy love with Ophelia, these misfortunes pitilessly torment hamlet’s mind. Looking at him-self from the mirror, hamlet feels helpless, no one understands him. His mood is sad and sullen. Kenneth Branagh expresses the mood perfectly. Also, the setting of the performance by Kenneth Branagh is most accurate to the original setting according to the book. Kenneth Branagh shipped some sentences which I think is very important to the plot of the story. “And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (line 69). The line is extremely important because hamlet think the death is flesh is heir to. No one could have eternal of life, which means all humans’ beings are mortal. He thinks death can help him to get rid of misfortunes. Next re-enactment is performed by Alexander Fodor. In my opinion, the performance is the worst among those three performances. The way of speaking of Alexander is tame and expressionless. Alexander plays as hamlet; the hamlet seems to be in a daze. Instead of holding a knife or standing before the mirror, hamlet is holding a microphone and recording his speech. The set up of this movie makes me no sense. At the beginning of the movie, hamlet kiss a corpse, the corpse seem to be hamlet’s father. The setting of this movie is inaccurate to the original setting of the play. The setting of the speech is occur in hamlet’s mind while he is asleep, which is also inaccurate to the setting of the play according to the book. The last movie is acted by Laurence Olivier. The movie is in black and white. The setting of the movie is quite different from others. In this movie, hamlet is sitting at the edge of a cliff, and looking down at the outrageous wave. The camera seems goes into hamlet’s mind from the top of hamlet’s head. And then the shape of brain occurs. This set up shows that hamlet is considering the philosophical question—“to be or not to be.” The way of speaking is a little sullen and a little tame. The hamlet in this movie seems to be impassive. Hamlet is not talking but pondering. Hamlet takes out a knife from his pocket and does a motion tried to commit suicide. This scene shows that hamlet is suicidal and wants to end his life. In my opinion, hamlet acts less expression and less emotion, which cannot deliver the true feelings of hamlet to the audiences and the viewers.
Among those three movies, I think the performance by Kenneth Branagh is the best representation of hamlet. Kenneth Branagh perfectly expresses the feelings of sullen and mad of hamlet. The setting of the plot also is the best among those three. The hoarse tone of Kenneth Branagh delivers the painful feelings to the audiences, which also shows the characterization of hamlet. The performance by Alexander Fodor is the worst among those three. The plot of the scene has changed a lot, which make the scene inaccurate to the original scene of the book. The way of hamlet speak the great speech is tame and expressionless, which makes the audiences feel bored. The last movie by Laurence Olivier is okay. Because the scene shows how hamlet feels and what he is thinking. But the way of the speaking is a little bit tame and impassive. This makes the audiences lose the curiosity to continue to watch the movie. In my opinion, I prefer the re-enactment by Kenneth Branagh because his performance is the most accurate to the original play and my imagination base on the reading of the book.

Yinzhen, Wu said...

In the play Hamlet By William Shakespeare, the most famous line in Act 3 Scene 1 said by Hamlet: “ to be or not to be-that is the question.” (3:1 line 64) to questiones with himself. He trying to say there are two options in the life neither to live or to died and ask himself to make a decision between these two options in his life. In the following soliloquy, Hamlet debates with himself in this speech. He wonders if he should keep the pain inside or he can oppose these feelings. In the following soliloquy, He deals with pain, fear, love, indecisiveness and heartache. After I watched the following three versions from Hamlet’s soliloquy from Act 3 Scene 1, I think Kenneth Branagh has the best reenactment than the other two versions of the video. Although the directors in each video have their own ways to express the emotion of Hamlet at this moment, but the director in the video with the actor Kenneth Branagh expresses very well on Hamlet’s emotion on pain, fear, love, doubt, indecisiveness and heartache when he reading the soliloquy in front of the mirror around him. And the actor Kenneth Barrangh is able to deliver the message that Hamlet is trying to express the different sentiments of his mind.
First, the director set up the setting of the vidoe in the actor Kenneth Barrangh is better than the other two videos. Based on the book, we knew the Act 3 Scene 1 is happened at one room in the Royal Palace. But in Alexander Fodor’s video, the director in Alexander Fodor’s video modernize the whole play, not only the setting of the play becomes modern, but also the dresses of the character in the video. In Laurence Olivier’s video, the director make the setting in the sea coast, which is not make sense with the setting that Shakespeare provide in the book. In Kenneth Barrangh’s video, we can see the actor Kenneth Barrangh’s dressing is only one look like the prince in these three video, his dress is different with the actor Alexander Fodor and Laurence Olivier and the room set up in Kenneth Barrangh’s video with the royal family setting, the wall pattern with noble feeling, and there are multi-faceted mirrors in the wall. When Hamlet's reading his soliloquy in front of the mirror, he tries to question with himself.
In addition, the tone of the actor Kenneth Barrangh uses to express Hamlet’s emotion on pain, fear, love, indecisiveness and heartache very well in this video. In the book, Hamlet was whispering to himself because he didn’t want any one else to hear him. He have two options, he need to make a decision between two options in his life, he wonders if he should keep the pain inside of him trapped and thus “Suffer the slings and arrows of outrages fortune”, (3:1 line65-66) or he can oppose these feelings, “take arms against a sea of troubles” (3:1 line 67) and end his problems. Hamlet sholud be confused and lost his mind in this moment, he doesn’t really know what he need to do. After I watched the video acts by Kenneth Barrangh, I realized that the actor was also whisper in a soft tone while he stand in front of the mirror and looking himself in the mirror to questions on what he should do between the two options in his life. In the play, when Hamlet says “To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream.” (3:1 line72-73) I figured out Hamlet was yelling at the helpless he has in his life now and he wishes dreams will take a long break when he leaves the mortal realm. In the video, I can see the actor Kenneth Barrangh acts Hamlet's emotion very well. When he reading this soliloquy, he keep moves his feet close to the mirror, and tries to go deeper to see clearly on his own mind. In the book, Hamlet says, “The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns.” (3:1 line80-81) He mentions the pains of love, insolence of office, or politics as a whole, and oppression and he says that he will relieve himself from all these debts with a mere dagger. For this part in the video, I can hear Hamlet’s emotion on pain, fear, love, doubt, indecisiveness and heartache from the tones that Kenneth Barrangh says this soliloquy. His tone look like almost cry in this moment and his heart is crumbled by the disappoint in his life. Based the content in the book, Kenneth Barrangh had walk in front of the mirror and took out the a mere dagger. Although the actor Alexander Fodor and Laurence Olivier has the same soliloquy as Kenneth Barrangh do in the video, but the tones that Alexander Fodor use to expresses is very normal and he uses the radio to collect what he said in the video, this version of the video is modernize the whole play, I think this is not really make sense with the content that Shakespeare provided in the book. Also, Alexander Fodorthe and Laurence Olivier use to express Hamlet’s emotion in this moment is very quiet, and their expression did not richly to show Hamlet'’s emotions while reading his soliloquy in the play.
In conclusion, I think Kenneth Branagh has the best reenactment than the other two versions of the video. This version of the video is the closer to the concept of the original play, even tho there are some changes from the play. In the video, he richly use the tone and emotion in his acting to expresses Hamlet’s emotions on pain, fear, love, indecisiveness and heartache. I also think that the director’s choice on the setting is better the other two versions of the video. In Kenneth Branagh’s video, I can see that he stand in front of the mirror and starring at the mirror to questions himself. In this way, the mirror helped deeper to see clearly on Hamlet’s mind.

mattn6 said...

“To be or not to be” their might never be a more famous line spoken in American literature, then that of the line spoken in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This famous line is spoken in Act 3, Scene 1 Line 64 during which hamlet’s conflict is one of committing suicide or not committing suicide. Throughout time this line has been mimicked by numerous and countless movie actors, Broadway play actors readers etc… but no one until now has captured it in the right way until I saw the video of Kenneth Branagh did a reenactment of the famous scene in hamlet Act 3 Scene 1. Branagh captured the lines over the other two videos we got to watch the way he delivers the lines not to mention the way he delivers the lines which is the exact same why he says them in the text which is by saying them to himself into a mirror that was one of the big similarities to me when watching the video and then going back and reading the text of over, the passion he shows, the confidence he shows while delivering the lines showed me the confidence he had knowing how important this line is to not only the plot summery but the story in general itself.

The lines read by Kenneth Branagh in the first video blog are dead on with the way Shakespeare portrays hamlet in the book in the mirror, In a room by himself with a dull white light surrounded by checkered floors which I think was imagery as to his dilemma with the white and black tiles. The white tiles representing the non suicide thoughts he has they use white, white being a bright cheerful color represents maybe happiness in the soul or the idea of happiness which the idea of living turning away the death that is symbolized by the white tiles, on the other hand the usage of the black tiles represents the other half of the deal the suicide part, Death represented in the black gloomy, morbid colors the idea that black is the absence of color and the idea that death is the absence of life I thought was used well here as imagery especially with the dilemma being faced her in hamlet’s mind of taking his life or staying alive but being dead on the inside. Kenneth Branagh did a fantastic job when it came to verbally stressing these points the tones in his voice really helped stress the emotions of his statement similar to the way it is stressed in the text “ To die to sleep no more and by a sleep to say and we the heartache and thousand natural shock” the things he stresses dieing, sleep, heartache all signs of resting and near death but then comes back with shocks which revamp us when were almost down and out which might be the case for hamlet in the scene. Hamlet having to make the decision between light and dark, white or black, life or death.

They way the character is portrayed is also very similar I thought for a few reason mainly the way that Kenneth Branagh read the lines during the video it gives the same feeling as when reading the text in the actual book watching the video when he is reading the lines and talking to himself through the mirror it seems you can hear it not only in the volume of his voice but as well in the tone of Branagh voice while his reading the thought of death seemed to be intriguing to hamlet’s character but also not the option that he wants as when he is speaking “To be or not to be” when he talks of lines such as “to die, to sleep heartaches of natural shocks”(lines 70-71) the disappointment in his voice gives it the sad sorrow of the situation but at the same time he voice raises in stature as to prove the point that it is a real struggle but at the same time when says things like “ There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life”(lines 76-77). While he says this which is a very important line in the plot and the famous speech the way he speaks lines like this his heart is in it when he speaks it but it’s a different tone then when he talks about the death and the heart ache you can tell what way he is leading towards maybe a little foreshadowing I though when hearing the video an then reading the text I got that feeling out of this part of that famous speech.

As far as the last part of this went with the music and sounds of this was dealt with even though obviously you wont be able to hear the music or sounds while reading the text the video gives you a good idea of how and when it would come into play in the scene the fading in and out of the music, the low and high parts of the music shifting though out the last few minutes of this scene gives you vantage points of where and what line you can tell would be the more important ones of the scene like “ with a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, the grunt and sweat under a werly life” (lines 84-85) when you can hear the slashing of when hamlet pulls out the knife from the holder in his belt its gives a sharp little clashing noise which to me indicated the beginning of an important sub part of the scene. The lines themselves give a good indication of what the mood and the feeling is during the scene but the music and sounds really help put the mood over the top and get the point across and the true and deep emotion of the lines being speaking by hamlet.

In the end I choose this first video to critique because not only did I feel that this video was dead on tract with the accuracy and the feeling of the lines went right hand and hand with the text, but also even if this video wasn’t as good as it was I didn’t feel that the other videos got the points across and didn’t have the emotion necessary to display what Shakespeare was really trying to get across in the famous “ To be or not to be” Speech.

Rongliang L.6 said...

Rongliang, Lei

In the story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there are the very famous speeches of all the time. Especially, the line “To be or not to be” (3:1 line 64) that is the most important in the text. That was decided what he would do. A lot of people are still using this sentence today. It made us fell the people who said these sentences are sad. It was also showed us that the person was confused. In the video were acted difference from Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. We could see they performed so difference. This speech could express what hamlet’s feeling at that time. We could through the tone and the attitude to criticize the actor performed is good or not. In the video by Kenneth Branagh, he acted before the mirror. I thought that was very propriety as what the hamlet did, because hamlet was asking the question by himself. The mirror was reflected himself. He could ask any question, and the shadow in the mirror was liked listening. That made us thought hamlet was talking to himself. He was confusing what should he does. At the other way, the tone of Kenneth Branagh was also propriety. It was slowly and deep. It made the audience feel the pain in hamlet. In the video by Alexander Fodor, I thought the video inaccurate, especially in this speech. Alexander Fodor speaks too fast. It doesn’t make the audience feel the hamlet was in painful. It also sat there. It doesn’t have a feeling as hamlet in pain. In the video by Laurence Olivier, it also showed it was a good video. I thought that is the good video because there was the good setting. It showed us hamlet was standing before the sea. It also showed hamlet was deciding should live or not live. It also let the audience thought the situation in hamlet.
In the book, hamlet thought of commit suicide. “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles. And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep-“(3, 1, 65-68) He was confusing what should he does. It was hard to decide. In the video by Kenneth Branagh, I thought he was act very well. He was staring his shadow in the mirror. He was thinking about himself. It was corresponded the book. The speech was taking to him. If he stared to the shadow in the mirror that was correct. In the video by Alexander Fodor, I don’t think that can show the audience everything about the hamlet, because the light was very bright. It doesn’t feel the pain. And he was speaking very fast. I also thought his emotion was not the hamlet did. In the video by Laurence Olivier, it showed us the good setting as the book “ or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”(3:1 67) That was propriety what the book said. Even though it had showed us the good setting, but compare to the video by Kenneth Branagh, I thought the video by Kenneth Branagh is better. Hamlet only talked to himself. He only used the figure of speech.
In the video by Kenneth Branagh, the speech was going on until the line “When he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?” (3:1 83-84) hamlet took out his knife and appoint to the mirror. Suddenly, the picture was showed the king shock. Hamlet was getting closer to the mirror. That was showed us that hamlet would make the king surprise. The also means the king had felt the terrible from hamlet. The music at that time was also terrible. It made us following the direction by hamlet. When the speech goes on, hamlet was getting closer to the mirror. It was like hamlet go to find out the king after the mirror. It also could reflect to the book.
I like the video by Kenneth Branagh because Kenneth Branagh could perfectly control the tone. He also showed us his speaking skill. He was standing in front of the mirror. He was facing himself. He also could perfect express what the hamlet did. He just showed his feeling as he experienced what the hamlet experienced. He could properly strong his voice, and controlled the speed. He made us to following his direction. We could also following the direction of the emotion.
At the beginning, I wonder how the setting could was only set by the mirror, but until I watched the whole story and compare to the other two video. I thought the mirror was the most important to be setting. After I understand the whole story, I knew he was talking to himself. He was confusing. He could not make a decision. He could talk to his spirit. And the mirror can reflect him. That was as the spirit as the shadow comes out to the audience’s eyes. We could follow his tone and got more than the book. I also think about the costumes of hamlet. It was like the modern noble gentleman. The light was darkness. It made us feel dark in hamlet’s heart.
All in all, I thought the video let me think hamlet will showed me how to effect to the king coming soon. Through the tone I can believe that hamlet would suffer the terrible thing before he accomplishes his revenge. I also can think about the king live hard after that, because he was shocking when hamlet took out the knife. He would worry about hamlet revenge. I think that Kenneth Branagh did a great job in re-enacting the scene from the act three scene one. I think he was success to fulfill the character of hamlet. He performed action more than I can image. It also made me more clearly about the story of hamlet. That was why I think the video by Kenneth Branagh was better than the other two people acted.

Yulin W7 said...

Yulin Wu
Mr. Gallagher
English 12 Per. 7
15 March, 2009

In Act 3 Sc. 1 the King Claudius is going to celebrated his marriage with the widow of his brother, which is the mother of Hamlet. And it is not even two mouths after the king pass away. And they want to know is Hamlet is really become crazy or he just pretend he is crazy. So King Claudius and Polonius are using Ophelia put a set on Hamlet try to see is he crazy because of Ophelia. And brought out “To be or not to be, that is the question” (line. 64) of Hamlet known as to be the most famous line of William Shakespeare at the whole time.
And after I watch all three videos by Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor and Laurence Olivier. I think the video with Hamlet by Kenneth Branagh is the best of them. Because of its setting did a lot job to put the actor in the mood. First is the floor, that is made by black and white rocks. And black and white always use for meaning two sides of good and bad. Such for doing some choices of life. And for Hamlet in this scene, he is not sure and confuse about what he should do. “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them” (line 65-68) With doing nothing but sitting away or to stand up found out the truth. He does not know what to do it the best. And with the place he stands is the same way as the angles points. Also showing Hamlet being extreme. Then, he is in a room that full of mirrors. And mirror only can reflect that is real, but it is not real by itself. And because Hamlet stands in a room that full of mirrors that such as meaning can not distinguish the true and the false. In this scene, everything for Hamlet seems so wrong and he does not how to say. Is his uncle the one who murder his father. And he can not trust anyone now because he is afraid everyone is sent by the king. And the last is the trick they have with mirror. That when Hamlet took out the sword to the mirror and it is where King Claudius and Polonius is. “Who would fardels near, to grunt and swear under a weary life.”(line. 84-85) That showing, the truth is under that lies. And Hamlet is willing to find out of it. And also shows that King Claudius might be the murderer of his father.
After, the camera is took place greatly. That it took place with Hamlet is facing himself in the mirror. It tells the audiences that Hamlet is taking to himself. That he has a great conflict in himself right in this moment. Sounds like there is another he in himself, which he has a split personality. Because Hamlet is asking himself for answers looking, but he can not ask other people. Because he only trust himself at this time. And the camera all so catch other mirror in the scene. Meaning every lies and truths are related to each other. Then with one more point is about how the camera catch the actor. From line 64-85, the lens still keeping two Hamlet in the screen. But star at line 86, it star loss the Hamlet in reality and focus on the Hamlet in the mirror. It is kind of trying to say, Hamlet is willing to lost everything by follow that he wants to do to find out the truth that under the lies.
Next, the music. For the beginning of Hamlet’s soliloquy, from “To be or not to be” to “for in that sleep of death what dreams may come”(line64-74) did not come with the music. Because for Hamlet’s soliloquy, it is the most famous part for “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. And for its first and most famous line “To be or not to be, that is a question” It also means, to Survive or to be death. It is a very important question Hamlet himself. There is only a step, it will become heaven or hell. To for a prince to live in a such pain, or choose to end his own life. This is a song already. Without music, equal without distract. To bring audiences hear and more focus on how Hamlet’s feeling is. But as the last word “come” is end, a strange music brought up. It sounds like a hymn slow down by few beat. And also sounds like the cries of the ghost. It become louder and louder from “when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.” (line75-77) With the words of Hamlet and the music all sounds like he lost all the reason he can life. Same as the people that die before him. And then, the music become connect and fast as the more instability of his mind is.
And then. It end, with the entry of Ophelia.
And finally, it is the actor Kenneth Branagh. It was great about his voice. And as the soft and question tone of his. It shows out how helpless and weak also angry that this Hamlet in the mirror is. That not one person next to him could be trust. And truth that he needs, could just be what his imagine in his mind. When he stop on the mirror, the lens took the shooting so close. I saw all his feeling in his face, with hate and helpless. Want to kill the cower in mirror badly. But he change fast as he saw Ophelia comes in. With “soft you now, the fair Ophelia .(line 96-97) That sounds like he is telling the “Hamlet” with hate in his body to shut up. But the truth is, he just does not want Ophelia hear the words he said to himself. Because she is coming in, and he does not want to hurt her feelings. And with his telling himself “the fair Ophelia”, showing he is still loving Ophelia. But it turn out lies on her that he loves her no now. Which we saw the next part of video in class. And it all , showing better then the other two. Because the Hamlet of Fodor make no sense to me. How can he still kissing the death body of the old king while he dead for months. And his act and words are too hard. That the Hamlet of Olivier, is closing the eyes all the time. And his words were distracted by the music and the way he acts. Made me confuse, he is holding the knife but the sea is right under his feet. Then why he still wants to suicide with the knife with such pain. And the way he sits made me uncomfortable. This is why the one by Kenneth Branagh is the best.

JohnN7 said...

John Nguyen

In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, act three scene one carries one of the most famous soliloquys in all of literature. In my opinion, out of the three videos, I think that this video is the best interpretation for the scene because the setting and video in general is straight forward. The director is suggesting that Hamlet has a conflict between himself through the use of setting and tone. The second video with Alexander Fodor was too plain and dull in my opinion. The white scene expresses nuetrality greatly, but the setting was quite confusing. I also didn’t understand why he had to record this soliloquy, but also having the camera mainly focus in his eye wasn’t too brilliant because it doesn’t express emotion. I feel that this scene didn’t make the audience feel what Hamlet is feeling. The third video with Laurence Olivier seems to old compare to modern day today. I wouldn’t think it would be eye catching to people, and the sounds of the winds in this video makes it harder to hear him acting out the soliloquy.

In the beginning of the soliloquy, I feel that the start of the setting was done well, because its colors of the room is mainly black and white, but shows royalty, which fits Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Hamlet giving the soliloquy to the mirror is well done because it gives the audience an understanding of the character conflict. The conflict being shown is protagonist versus self because Hamlet is basically speaking to himself in this scene questioning about death. The use of the mirror is also a brilliant idea because it gives the audience a straight forward answer of Hamlet having a conflict within himself while speaking the soliloquy. Hamlet says, “To die, to sleep—no more—and by sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh us heir to— ‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.” This quote shows how Hamlet is debating with himself about fate because of death. Hamlet speaks about it and questions to himself, which gives the audience a feel of Hamlet’s situation. This soliloquy is important in the play because it is referring to his uncle. This soliloquy also gives significance whether or not Hamlet is going to avenge his father, because of his wicked brother murdering his father in his sleep. The black and white in this scene is not too overwhelming, which makes it not distraction for the audience to notice. Having done this, the audiences will most likely keep their attention on Hamlet, which will give a deeper meaning to the soliloquy.

In this video, while the actor is having the soliloquy, there is a type of horror music in the background that is not too low or high while the actor is talking. Having the music too high makes the music overwhelming while the character is speaking. Having the music too low will most likely make the music useless because the audience will most likely not hear it. This is almost as important as the soliloquy because it gives the audience a sense of prediction. Listening to the low music gives somewhat of a horror feel. The director choosing this music to play as the soliloquy is going on is a well done action for the video because it makes the audience feel what Hamlet is feeling. Hamlet at this point is pondering about himself and his fate, which is close to confusion and determination. Hamlet feels that his uncle is a traitor at this point, which should most likely have the audience on Hamlet’s side also because the murder of a brother should have consequences. In general, killing a family member, and killing a person in general is not right in the ways of the world perspective. Hamlet’s uncle killing his father shows greediness and a person who is cold hearted because he murdered his own brother to take throne in royalty. The music and theme in this video gives the audience a sense of tone and mood to feel as if the audience were in Hamlet’s position.

As Hamlet goes on with this soliloquy, he says, “With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all” towards the mirror. While looking at the mirror, the director most likely had this setting planned out which I thought was perfect for this scene because the mirror is the main focus that’s straight forward. Hamlet speaks to himself while looking at the mirror and as he draws his dagger out when saying, “With a bare bodkin?” towards the mirror, it startles the two people behind the mirror who are basically spying on Hamlet to see his conditions. In a split second, the director decides to show one of the character who is behind the mirror reaction. Scaring the two people behind the mirror was definitely a good idea because the audience knows how they feel towards Hamlet, and at the same time, it makes Hamlet’s character look somewhat like a lunatic. This mirror seems as if it’s a reflection on one side, and on the other side it’s see through. This part makes Hamlet dominant because he pulls out the dagger. Pulling out the dagger gives a feel of power and violence. The dagger also shows a sign of death and basically gives the audience a kind of prediction of Hamlet.

Overall, Hamlet delivers the line while whispering towards the mirror. This action from the director is well done because it tells the audience he doesn’t have to speak so loud because no one is around. This soliloquy is important to the play because it gives one of the main point of Hamlet’s perspectives. It makes the audience ponder about what’s going to happen next. Hamlet is speaking clearly and gently, but at the same time it makes him seem as if he’s crazy because of the dagger. In my opinion the directors decision of this video for act three scene one was a well done job because it gave me a better understanding of the soliloquy after watching it repetitively. The main point is to show how Hamlet is reacting at this point in the play. I feel that the director using the camera to focus on the mirror reflection of Hamlet was a good angle to shoot the scene because it basically shows a character versus oneself conflict situation.

wen Z 7 said...

In act three scene one of Hamlet by Shakespeare; it concluded the prince Hamlet’s soliloquy. When the King and the Queen found Hamlet crazy after King Hamlet’s dead, they wanted to find out the reason of Hamlet’s crazy. They asked Hamlet’s friends, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to talk with Hamlet. They thought that Hamlet would said something depth in his heart. But Hamlet knew all things, he didn’t say more things. So the King wanted to hide when Hamlet came, and then he can see what Hamlet do and hear what Hamlet say. From this soliloquy, we can found out Hamlet wanted kill himself. But he had many reason to not to do it, so he was very contradiction in that time.

There are three different films about Hamlet. I think Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet was better than the other two. These three films shoot in different years, so the scenery was very different. From these scenes, the first one was more beautiful than the other two, and then the first and second one was color and the third was black and white. So when the people see these three films, most of people think the first one is best of these three films.

The lines in the films were almost as the same as the book of Hamlet. But in Alexander Fodor a Hamlet, there were almost lines of lines missing. (Page 127, #74-79) I think these lines were very important to us know more about Hamlet’s heart. The missing lines were the reason to Hamlet not to kill him. He wanted to died, but he worried about what would happen after he died. He worried people’s words after he died. He didn’t want others to talk about him.

In these three films, only the in the Laurence Olivier as Hamlet had incidental music. The incidental music had a good effect to explained Hamlet’s emotion in that time. From incidental music, we can know about the gut how to happen. The incidental music followed the actors’ words and action, it made the spectators would feel the gut more true. There was a feeling to us, it maybe happened in your own.

I don’t think the first film was the best just for its color. The most important is the actor. Kenneth Branagh used a nice way to explained Hamlet’s mood at that time. The speed of these three films was different. I think the second was liked reading a book. I can’t see what happen to him. Alexander Fodor didn’t explain more emotion about Hamlet in the film. And the third one was better than the second one. Maybe the third one had incidental music, so I think it was better to explain Hamlet’s feeling at this time. In the film, Laurence Olivier had some actions. I think it is good for explained his feeling. In the first and third one, the actors took out a small sword. It was a good action to explain Hamlet wanted to kill himself at that time. In the first film, Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet, we just from the mirror to see what emotion in he face. In this film, one action caught my eyes. He put the small sword on the head. From this action, I found that Hamlet was very want to kill him in that time. But he had many reason not to do that. In these three films, the actors’ expression was different form each other. I think the first one was better than other two. The second one didn’t have any expression on his face. Maybe the method to shoot is just focus on his eyes. The third one was better than the second one. We can found some feeling that he had no choice. In the first one, we can found angry, sad and had no choice’s expression. He angry about that he can’t do anything for his father’s revenge. He angry about that he afraid to died when he can’t revenge. He sad by his cowardice. Kenneth Branagh explained Hamlet’s feeling very well in the film. I can feel very depth in the film.

The first film was the best not only the reason above, it had other reason to make us feel this one was the best. When Hamlet took out the small sword, it had a frame to the King. So it showed us that the King heard all words which Hamlet said. It was very good to link the gut after the King heard that. A good play must have good connection in the film, so the third one didn’t do very well in this place. And the second has a frame about Alexander Fodor kissed by someone as his father King Hamlet kissed by others. It was clearly to show us that Hamlet wanted died.

Generally, the first one was better than the other two, but in some place, the other two was better than the first one. For example, the incidental music in the third film. So it was good to explained Hamlet’s mood at that time. When a person said something by himself, others would feel unnatural. Because others would think that he just makes a show and earns other’s sympathy. Otherwise, Hamlet was written between 1599and 1601, so the third was made the spectators feel the play more true. In the second film, Hamlet had a recorder. Recorder was invented in 1877, so the year was not match. As same as the first one, in that film the King hided in the mono-directional mirror. It is sure that in 1600s, it didn’t have this mirror. A play is to make the spectators feel that is true in the world. In this place, the third is the best. Because its year of shoot was closer the time Shakespeare wrote. In the world, it doesn’t have anything is perfect. Only one thing is better than another. If the first film can do some place as the same as the other two, that would be better.

Randy C.7 said...

After watching all the three video I have come to see that, Kenneth Branagh did the best job when it came to the soliloquy. I say this because the other two videos just do not do the best job when it comes to the setting of him saying his speech. The second video had Hamlet in a room with a white background talking into a tape recorder, this gives me the feelings that he is more in the modern age then when this play was actually written in. The third video had a time frame about when this play takes time, but the setting of were hamlet said his soliloquy was not the best for it. The hill were he was sitting at did not give the though of after he was done with his soliloquy of Ophelia showing up to were he was.

The soliloquy “to be or not to be-that is the question” is portrayed the best in this video because the setting for were he said it was chosen well. This is because when he starts saying his speech we see how he is in a castle, them the way that hamlet expresses himself while he is talking is how I would say he would be saying this speech. This is him showing very little emotion when he first starts saying his soliloquy, then he starts getting more emotional when he starts talking about his uncle and his mother. This is when he draws his an hold it up to his face. Here we see how his uncle gets scared when he pulls the dagger and points it right at the mirror where he is behind it.

The music in the back ground gives a distraction from what hamlet is saying some times. The soft music that is played does not help to focus on what hamlet is saying. This causes a distraction from when you are really concentrated on hearing hamlets soliloquy. This was one of the things that I did not like from what the director did. Because it takes the mind from the speech to the music.

This director also chose to let the king and Polonius listen to the soliloquy, I would say that he was the one that chose to let them here the most of the soliloquy. This was something that I would agreed on him doing because if they are already hidden before Ophelia shows up to talk to hamlet they are not going to hide just as she is getting there.

This is why I think that this director out of all three did the bets job when it came to the soliloquy. This director when it came to how interpret hamlet when it came to interpreting how hamlet would acct o his soliloquy had the right idea on how to do it.

Kristi G. 6 said...

Kristi Gjikondi 3/16/09
Hamlets Soliloquy
The assignment is on Hamlets soliloquy from act.3 scn.1. There are three video clips, each video has a different interpretation of Hamlets state of mind. After carefully reviewing all three videos and commenting on what I saw and marking down notes on the actor’s behavior and attitude. Many actors do a great job on giving out this famous lines by Hamlet but others try changing the speech and taking away the originality of its content. The video that drew the most attention from me and was best played out was the video by Kenneth Branagh. What I really liked about his act was the movement and attitude he was giving while delivering the famous lines which were “To be or not to be- that is the question” and later on when he says “No traveler return, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ill we have Than fly to others that we know not of?” Line 90 pg.129. I thought Kenneth did a great job delivering out those lines. What made it great was the way he was holding the knife and starring at the mirror and recognize his true self. The importance of this speech cannot be stressed out any more than it already is. This speech is important to the plot of the book but also foreshadows Hamlets life and how he might committee suicide on himself.
In the first video by Kenneth Branagh Hamlets tone is quiet and patient. I think this actor does the best job of re-enactment of the play He Explains slowly the soliloquy “to be or not to be” He is standing by himself talking patiently and slowly what’s better in life? Is it better to just die. He takes out a knife and stares at the mirror to look at himself and find out the truth behind himself. To be or not to be- that is the question” and later on when he says “No traveler return, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ill we have Than fly to others that we know not of?” Line 90 pg.129.
The way that Branagh delivers this line if identical to the way Hamlet delivered the line in the text. One crucial mistake that I noticed this actor make was skipping over a couple of important lines said by Hamlet. The important lines that Kenneth made an error on was “and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” Act 3 Scn1 line 69. The importance of this line is missed in the video clip and it perhaps doesn’t give the actor a strong impression on himself. The lines that he skipped through didn’t give the picture of how Hamlet was planning of committing suicide.


In the second video Act.3 Scn. 1 by Alexander Fodor the color of the video is blue. I believe this actor does the worst re-enactment of the play. In this scene, Hamlet seems to be in a daze, or a dream. The actor is wearing black clothes to represent the darkness of the speech. He talks to the public in a microphone “to be or not to be “ that is the question. To die to fall asleep he says and his vice is patient and while his talking his mind is thinking before delivering the lines. His eyes are wide awake when he delivers this speech. And there are pictures of an old man lying on the ground representing death. The background music is a bell ringing in slow but long sounds like the way life is and death represent the bell and the heartbeats. The reason why I didn’t enjoy really enjoy the second video by Alexander Fodor was because he seemed dead and boring talking in the microphone. The way the setting of the video was set up was boring and annoying. I didn’t enjoy neither the actor or the setting and the way the scene was set up.


In the third video Act. 3 Scn.1 by Laurnece Olivier the video takes place in a hill and Hamlet standing in the top of the hill. And below the ocean is making strong waves. The third video is more like an old time video and Hamlet is holding a knife and dressed in black and gray. The background of this video is dark and black the way they its set up is by the clouds being black and it seems as hurricane is about to take place. The actor talks in a nice soft voice slowly and patiently. This scene was very different than the other scenes. This scene was in black and white. This scene is inaccurate mostly because of the tone of the actor and the scenery. Standing at the Edge of a cliff makes no sense. This scene in my opinion lacks emotion and anger even know the actor does a great job of talking slowly he needs to add a little anger and tone in his voice to make the acting seem more dramatic. When Hamlet says “the slings and arrows of outrages fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.” (3:1 line 66) Hamlet seems like he is talking about the good of his country instead of his life with Ophelia. The actor seems to be changing the whole point of the speech by taking the lines out of context.

Brittany K. 6 said...

The Play Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare back many years ago. Many directors and writers have tried to create the play like Shakespeare wrote it. The most famous speeches of all time is the “To be or not to be that is the question,” (Line 55 Pg.81) This line has been acted out by thousands of different actors and different directors cast it in different ways. Shakespeare is never specific in his book when he talks about this specific soliloquy. It is up to the directors to show whether Polonius and Claudius hear the speech or how much of it they hear. It’s interesting to see how the different directors show the specific soliloquy in their movies. All three movies have different scenes, settings, and the way the lines where given even though their all about the same play. The first one seems to be the most intense and more realistic view of this play just because it isn’t very modernized and it seems as though its how Hamlet would have given this speech if it was to be produced back in Shakespeare’s time.

Out of the three videos, the video by Kenneth Branagh shows how William Shakespeare wanted this scene to look like. Hamlet is at first all by himself much like what it says in the book and he is speaking very dramatically to himself. In the video he is talking to a mirror almost like he is directing the whole speech to himself it is very interesting to see him speak like this. In the video its as though he is speaking so intently that he has his hands in a sort of fist, it makes the scene a lot more intense. He takes out a knife in the middle part of the speech. It’s as if he knows that Polonius and Claudius are watching him in secret. In the book it doesn’t mention Hamlet knowing that Claudius and Polonius are watching him. It makes the scene much more interesting because in the video when Hamlet takes out the knife it’s as if he is pointing at the King and Polonius it makes you think he has a much better motive than just talking to himself. In the book when Hamlet says, “Where is your father?” (Line 141 Pg. 131) It makes you wonder if Hamlet knew that Polonius was there the whole time. In the video, Hamlet stars intently into the mirror while giving his speech before Ophelia comes in. When Ophelia comes into the scene Hamlet leaves the mirror and goes over to her and finishes the speech to her. I think that this video best suits the way the author intended this scene to be like. The deliveries of the lines are so intense hes almost whispering into the mirror in a room where he is completely by himself. If he didn’t know that Polonius and Claudius in the room than why would he stand by the one mirror that they where behind or why would he talk as though he is the only one in the room although he is crazy it just doesn’t make sense. He had to have known that they where there. The famous soliloquy is often debated by many different directors. The first movie shows him like examining himself while he is saying this intense speech. It makes you wonder if maybe he has gone crazy or if he is trying to cope with the fact that his father was murdered by the new king and chances are no one is going to believe him. “Whether ‘Tis nobler in the mind to suffer,” (Line 56 Pg.81) it shows that he is truly and deeply thinking about possibly committing suicide. I wonder why he is thinking about this after he had made the plan to catch Claudius. I think that the director of the movie wanted to show that Polonius and Claudius where listening to the speech the whole time but that maybe they couldn’t necessarily hear what exactly he was saying because in the video Hamlet is speaking very softly even though he appears to be all alone in the room. When Ophelia walks into the room its as though all of his focus and energy goes to her. Although in the movie it doesn’t show them breaking up in the book it shows them arguing at first. Yet in the movie he is very focused on her. The way the movie is laid out it makes me wonder if maybe she was another reason for Hamlet wanting to commit suicide. When Hamlet realizes he is being listened to or set up by her he immediately gets violent even though Polonius and Claudius are still watching they allow him to keep pressing Ophelia for more and more information. Hamlet seems to be very intelligent in the movie but I am not so sure he is in the book as well. In the book it doesn’t mention anything about Hamlet becoming violent toward Ophelia even though he does ask her about where her father is.
The story can also be taken a different way from how this particular video is showing it to be. It is possible that Hamlet truly is crazy and that he has no idea of the plot to set him up to see why he is crazy. It seems as though that if Ophelia hadn’t walked into the room he would have given the real reason as to why he didn’t want to be alive anymore. What if Ophelia didn’t walk into the room when she did ? It makes you wonder what Shakespeare’s intentions really where.

Although there are many different interpretations of this play I believe this is the best one only because it shows us a different view and it seems to be the closet to how Shakespeare wanted Hamlet to be portrayed as. The other videos portray the play as well but I believe that the one directed by Kenneth Branagh is the best to describe the perfect scene while giving this intense and very meaningful speech.

Jared R 6 said...

In the first video critique by Kenneth Branagh Hamlet is extremely calm and speaking into the mirror. Hamlets line “To be, or not to be- that is the question.” (L.64) has become one of the most famous lines in all of Shakespeare works. His voice is very soft, and everything he is saying seems to have a deep meaning. His is in a very large hall, staring into a mirror speaking. He seems to be trying to get a point across, and tell himself something. Towards the end his speech he takes out a knife, and points it at himself in the mirror and begins to bring it closer to his face. I think that he speaking on how sometime soon he will make a move to kill Claudius. Maybe he took the knife out because that is what he is going to use to kill him. Ever since Hamlet spoke with his fathers ghost he is not the same. This speech just shows that Hamlet is completely different. Hamlet now seems to be ruthless, and just out for Claudius. The line “to be or not to be” may mean is Hamlet going to let Claudius just gets away with the death of his father, or is he going to actually do something about it and make his father proud. This video made me feel as if Hamlet wants Claudius’s head and this soliloquy is just a way to show that Hamlet is serious about this.
In the second video Critique by Alexander Fodor it is much different that the first in many ways. First of all this video starts off with recorder, and also a man kissing another person that is laying down which didn’t make much sense to me. This video seems a lot more modern, doesn’t try to portray the Shakespearian times at all. The soliloquy is rehearsed by a man speaking into a microphone. When he speaks the angle of the camera changes. At some times only half of his face is shown other times it zooms up-close to his eye, other time it seems like the camera is filming him from the floor. The scene also changes from him to women standing in line waiting to kiss a man who seems to be dead lying down under a sheet. This doesn’t make any sense to me, why is Hamlet portrayed as a man speaking into a microphone. The music is very suspenseful, and at the end of the video you hear loud church bells ringing. I don’t think this video is a good way to portray Hamlet at all. It doesn’t make any sense to me, who is the man dead being kissed by the women. This video is very hard to understand, I’m not even sure if the man speaking into the microphone was supposed to be portrayed as Hamlet. He looks like a regular modern man rehearsing the lines. Nothing seems to go together; it has no meaning to me. I thought the creator of this video did a very poor job portraying Hamlet. The one thing I did like about this video was the music, and also the changing scenes from the man to the whole other scene with the man lying on the bed. In some ways I thought the man lying down being kissed is Hamlet, I think the dead man may be portraying Hamlet because he may end up dying. Overall the video was not that great to me, I think the director should have tried to make it look like it actually came during the Shakespearian times.
The third video critique by Laurence Olivier is all in black and white. I think he is on top of a large rock and the ocean is around him. The opening scene is the man portrayed as Hamlet standing behind a rock with a dark sky behind him. You can hear wind blowing, and speaks and almost immediately he takes out a dagger. Hamlet seems to be out of it, he is standing there with his eyes closed as the camera is closing up on his face he looks delusional. He then lies down on the rock rehearsing the lines still with the dagger clenched in his hand, very calm but serious. He stays on the rock for most of the video but towards the end he stands up and looks out into the ocean, turns around and walks away. I thought this video did a pretty good job of portraying Hamlet. This video actually looks like it takes place in the Shakespearian times. The man is supposed to be Hamlet I think does a good job. He plays the part well, went he speaks and how he speaks it reminds me of how Hamlet would. Hamlet usually speaks with deep meaning, and sometimes sarcasm. As I listened to this man speak everything he was saying was deep, and actually had meaning rather than just a bunch of words thrown together.
After watching all three video critiques I would have to say that the first video was the one that best portrays Hamlets state of mind. First of all I think the first video’s scenery was the best. To me it best portrays hamlets state of mind because it shows Hamlet speaking into a mirror to himself. In the book after a while you learn that Hamlet would be the type of person who would rather speak with himself rather than people that he just makes fun of, or does not take serious. In the other two videos the men just do not seems to fit the part. In the second video it doesn’t really make any sense and the man portrayed as Hamlet doesn’t act how Hamlet really would. The third video I thought was a lot better and almost as good as the first, but something about how the man spoke. He seemed to be sad not angry. It was almost as if the man had lost somebody and was crying about it. Therefore, I think the first video critique was the best one that portrays the state of mind that Hamlet is in.

annemarie L 7 said...

In Hamlet, the characters that portray him in the videos are different from the individual text. In the text, Hamlet is alone in a room, he’s speaking of whether to commit suicide or not. He’s troubled with many problems and anger towards his family, yet no one knows the real reason why he’s gone mad. Hamlet has not been himself lately that everyone has been figuring out what is the problem with him. As Hamlet begins to talk to himself, Ophelia’s father, Polonius, and Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius, spy on Hamlet. Polonius spoken to King Claudius telling him its love that drives him mad. He has spied on Hamlet earlier in the play. “You know sometimes he walks four hours together Here in the lobby.” (2:2;173-174) They ask Ophelia to speak with Hamlet and told her to give back the gifts that he has given her. Polonius and King Claudius wait for Ophelia to talk to Hamlet to see if it’s love that drives Hamlet into madness. In the videos, they’re similar by Hamlet speaking the same text in the book, yet they all have different expressions and emotions. Hamlet is portrayed in many ways by the views of others.
In the first video, Hamlet is in front of a mirror, speaking softly and calmly to himself. He’s the only one there with a mirror and a grand staircase behind him. As he’s standing still and speaking, Polonius and King Claudius are in the background behind the staircase. Hamlet has an object in his hands which looks like a dagger, as he pulls it out, a flashback of his father appears for a second then back to Hamlet, staring at the mirror and pointing the dagger towards it. As he finishes speaking, Ophelia walks in and he turns to greet her.
In the second video, there is a room of people in a white room; one man is lying down, while another is sitting on a chair with a microphone. The man sitting on the chair is speaking the lines of Hamlet. He speaks them with hesitation after speaking the first line, “to be or not to be --- that is the question.” (3:1;64) As he’s speaking, random people are in a line watching him speak while one by one they come and kiss the man lying down. He seems to be dead, for he is very pale and laying very still with his eyes closed. Everyone in line is serious looking, and looking straight forward. He later on speaks more rapidly as everyone is kissing the man lying down. As he says, “to grunt and sweat under a weary life,” (3:1;85) the video goes close up to the man’s face, but only showing part of his face and his eye. In the end of the video, as a girl kisses the man lying down and it changes to another scene of another man lying down and a girl kissing him. However, the man’s eyes open without saying a word.
In the third video, it’s black and white and Hamlet is on a high cliff looking down at a noisy ocean. He begins to speak; the music gets loud and shows only the image of his eyes. Hamlet is leaning on a rock while looking down; he has a knife or a dagger in his hands. While he’s speaking, he’s only looking toward the ocean, and as he says, “and what makes us rather we know not of?” (3:1;90) he drops the dagger in the ocean. However in the first video, he has the dagger, but doesn’t drop it in any way and in the second video, there was no dagger. In this video, Hamlet didn’t speak the last lines in the text, “--- Soft you now, The fair Ophelia. --- Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered.” (3:1;96-98) He has created his own words and ended saying, “And lose the name of action.” (3:1;96) In the text, he’s in a room and Ophelia comes in and speaks with him right after his soliloquy while Polonius and King Claudius are eavesdropping. At the end of this video, he walks off into the background of fog, where he disappears.
In conclusion, the videos portrayed the text in their own versions. In the first video, it’s more similar to the text than the other videos. Hamlet is in a room, by himself, speaking his soliloquy. In the second video, the man speaking was not Hamlet, yet it was as if he were speaking for Hamlet. He wasn’t Hamlet, yet the man lying down and the man that appeared at the end of the video was him. In the third video, the scene didn’t match with the text. The man was outside on a cliff looking down at the ocean, instead of being inside because the next part of the scene wouldn’t make sense in the text. The best version was the third video, for it portrayed the test more than the other videos. It had most accurate speaking and relations with the text.

Alex T 7 said...

All three versions of Hamlet’s soliloquy made points and had visual aspects that gave the viewer better ideas on which the image Shakespeare intends put in the minds eye of the reader. Kenneth Branagh’s version of the soliloquy best expresses Shakespeare’s vision. The delivery of the lines and character’s costume do a perfect job of creating an image to go along with the original play version of Hamlet. The idea of Hamlet looking into the mirror is also very creative intending to prove that the poem is intended for Hamlet himself. The camera view is also intriguing because it is practically an abyss behind Hamlet as the mirrors reflect one another leaving a never ending image. The original version of Hamlet is quite open ended allowing the video director’s to play with the words and make them change the overall tone of the scene.
Shakespeare’s words describe Hamlet questioning whether, existing itself is in fact worth the while. “To be or not to be- that is the question” is the first line of the soliloquy, allowing the reader to be faced with a very deep question as soon as the poem begins. Hamlet starts the scene speaking in a whisper but slowly gets louder and sterner as if to question his own words. Throughout the segment Hamlet uses many philosophic comparisons and it is hard to decipher whether or not he would rather “not be” than actually “be”. “Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep- to sleep, perchance to dream” is stated in a voice of question by the actor in the video which creates confliction in the mind of the person viewing the video, the confliction is established due to the fact that Hamlet is finding the positive and negatives in both life and death, the two being as opposite as possible. Yet Hamlet’s words make life and death seem quite similar, the director of the video makes the actor’s tone vary throughout the scene, as if to confuse the reader and still create mystery as to where Hamlet stands on his opinion between life and death. The setting of the scene is also very telling of the director’s stance and opinion on how he sees the scene.
The idea of Hamlet looking at himself dead on in the mirror allows himself to essentially see himself as a living person, yet it also allows him to view himself and see if existing is in fact what it is all really about. There is also the idea of two mirrors facing on another creating a never ending abyss which could be said for life and death alike. For life is always going to continue no matter who dies, but once dead a person is forever dead. “Thus conscience does make cowards of all of us all” is a line that says a lot for Hamlet’s stance, everyone has a conscience and every dies. In everyone’s mind at one point, the idea of dying and death pass through and leave a lasting mark as if to say everyone fears dying and Hamlet is admitting this to himself while facing the mirror. The scene is in a large room that has an echo creating an image of a very important scene that must come of as dramatic and leave the viewer in thought of Hamlet’s words and how important what he says not only to the viewer but Hamlet himself and his behavior right up until the end of the play. Although the setting was breathtaking, the scene comes full circle when music is added.
The scene begins in silence but as it becomes more and more dramatic the music slowly works its way in to the background. “There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.” Is exactly where the music starts and Hamlet begins to speak louder, he then lifts his dagger and runs it along his own face leaving the viewer in limbo watching a man who is seemingly insane questioning life and death with a weapon in his hand. This adds to the tension of the scene. Shortly after he ends the soliloquy Ophelia enters the room and Hamlet’s serious demeanor goes away and he seems to soften up. This was a strategy by the director to allow Hamlet to see the woman he loves directly after he questions his existence. If she was to enter half way through the soliloquy the entire tone would be thrown off and the dramatic effect would not have been as captivating and would not have allowed the viewer to question Hamlet’s thoughts in their entirety.
The dramatic soliloquy ends and leaves the viewer questioning Hamlet’s state of mind. Multiple completed thoughts are put together but conflict in such a manner that it is hard to establish the tone of the scene, leaving an open ended theory, the director of the video seemingly ends the questions by allowing the viewer to literally watch Hamlet interact with his own reflection. Overall the video establishes a very impressive view of what Hamlet is attempting to tell himself, the director seems to answer the question by allowing Hamlet to show himself that being alive is a better situation than death.

BeatrizR6 said...

Nora Beatriz Rivera

Ryan Gallagher

English 12 CP Period 6

13 March 2009

Hamlet Act 3:1
This is the famous scene that everyone knows about. The “To be or not to be” line was said in act 3 scene 1. Over time people have played Hamlet in various movies, some of them are modern, and other portrays the actual timeline of Hamlet. Most of them are all different then the actually text. Hamlet is trouble with everything that is going on in the world that he wants to commit suicide. He couldn’t the fact that his own mother would marry his father uncle after only a month of his death. He couldn’t handle the fact that his father by own brother killed him. As he was discussing about himself, in the background he was being spied on by Polonius who is Ophelia dad, and King Claudius, his uncle. Lately Hamlet has been acting insane towards the family and they wonder why he acted like that. They all thought it was love sick towards Ophelia. The King agrees with Polonius towards his craziness. Ophelia is confused about his craziness, although Hamlet being the love of her life she wants to help him out. In the video there are so many different scenarios going on.
In the first movie the video is exactly like the book it follows word by word. He is actually in the talking to himself in front of a mirror he has his back towards the camera and faced the mirror. As he questions himself about living he grabs a dagger from his pants hold out to the mirror as if he is actually going to commit suicide. He lightly taps the mirror with the dagger. Maybe as a stabbing motion he taps the mirror to see how would live be without him. He slowly put the dagger away. As Ophelia comes in the room, he is happily to see her. When that all changes.
In the second video was very strange. Hamlet is deeply thinking about Ophelia and a dead person. The dead person is Hamlet father he is heavily thinking about him, it showed strange music in the background. Then it showed a hamlet kissing a dead person. To show respect or to show how much he misses him. Hamlet goes off saying more about his speech and it is another flash back to show the Queen and Ophelia. Then as he says more of what is better then living here or the dead world he. There’s another flashback going off, everyone paying their respect to the King and kissing him to the mouth. The camera doesn’t show hamlet whole face it cut in half. And there is no background there is only light shining through blindly, nothing to see. The camera zooms in more and more to his eye to show his depth in how he thinks if he should live or not. Then again it shows the queen kissing the late king. Then the next scene it shows him dead and Ophelia kissing him. That clip of Hamlet famous line is very interesting, not only has it had his speech it some art in there. It had more vision then what it had then the first clip of Hamlet.
In the third clip it shows ocean then it zooms in Hamlet dead. As if they are watching through Hamlet eyes. He goes on off telling about his speech then he pulls off his dagger from is pocket and question life again. He teases the knife around back and forth. Then he just throws it off the ocean. Ending the scene. This really wasn’t all that great of a play he had to be inside of the house in order for he can talk to Ophelia for the next scene, clip two didn’t really showed where he was he was just recording his own speech then off. Then this one was apparently outside which wasn’t really good.

madeep S.6 said...

Act 3 scen1

The book is about hamlet by William Shakespeare. In the book the hamlet talk to him and front side of the mirror. When he talked to by himself the Polonius and Claudius watch him they are behind to the mirror to watch him. Hamlet question about himself and I watch the three video about the hamlet and they all different other to acting and the dialog are different. The first video act 3secen 1 the king and Polonius watch hamlet what he did and in the video he was quickly put out the knife and try to kill himself. The line was important “to be or not to be” the people still use those lines. They are all different to another the second video is totally different to the third video is little bit same to the first one. The both act hamlet kill by himself by knife and the king and Polonius were scared when he grab the knife. The different thing is the first video in there hall hamlet was in the hall and the third video in the beach and the hamlet sit in the rocks. He act like sad and the sound is sad to and he was talk slowly but the first video the hamlet look not sad and he look like gut feeling and sound is good. The first video same as book and lot of detailed the second video he was recorded his voice to the radio and the body on the bed all back ground is white and is like wearied. When the video begin the king open the door back side of the mirror and they saw the hamlet what he was doing. Act3 secen 1 the all video body language are different. The line in the book set on the three video perfectly. In the video hamlet want to kill by himself and in the last video. the line are important in the video linr (64) "to be or not to be- that is the question:" it's very famous line.
i chose to the first video is the best than others. the Kenneth branagh act the video is very well and he keep atention to the video and the act is simmilar than other he act like real king first the video he keep atention to the mirror and and taking to himself he didn't know king and polonius watch him after he grab knif and puy in the mirror and after he was put in his face he was talk to himself angry and sad. in the end of the video the ophelia came to the hall and the Hamlet watch her and go to near by her she want to meet him and after she give somthing to the hamlet that is why she came here. the second video the hamlet is alexander fodor and this video is not realy good than other. In this video he record his voice and the body over there after this the hamlet body and the girl kiss him she is Ophelia. he was just talking or say the diolog to the mike. he not acting like other video. another video the hamlet tring to kill himself and this video this is the hamlet body he was thought abut that. this video is the best an dnew than oters. The second video is like home made video.
the third video about Laurance oliver this is the old video and and it's black and white. the first in the video you saw the sea and waves and the hamlet sit in the rocks and he had a knif to kill by him self. in this video the Hamlet drop his knif to the sea and he was stand up to the rock and back to the home. ther eare three video all are difrent and in the fist i'm sure allpeople choose first video because it's realy nice. the first video end, the hamlet said to Ophelia "your my sin remember" its mean you are my love.

Danny T6 said...

Hamlet by Shakespeare contains in it the famous, “To be or not to be” soliloquy, where Hamlet debates suicide and why anyone should want to put up with life’s hardships when they can just end everything, while wondering what would happen to him in the next life if he were to die. Hamlet is saying this soliloquy of this before Ophelia walks into the room and he starts talking to her.
The interpretation of the play by Laurence Oliver is not bad, though it could have been better fitting with the soliloquy, the context does not fit and Hamlet starts speaking on top of a cliff, though I did not think the tone of the actor was fitting the soliloquy as, it was too easy going, though one of the worst things the video does is play that dramatic music at the end of “to die, to sleep” just to have him lean back, it lacked real reasoning and made the rest of the video seem almost like a joke.
The second video by Alexander Fodor was a bit more modern, though it also does not fit the context of the play like the second video. The thing that stood out to me the most was the Hamlet’s eyes when he first starts speaking. His eyes are open very wide and looking off in some direction, which made it seem like he was really far gone, and possibly insane, Though standing out very much it also instead of debating between the two gives the watcher a hint he is leaning more toward suicide, where the soliloquy is supposed to be debating between the two options. Hamlet at the end, after hearing church bells, joins the old man at the beginning, dead.
The interpretation by Kenneth Branagh was the best out of the three, it fit very well with the context with the video. The thing I noticed is Hamlet was talking to a mirror which I like that Branagh did in this video because it was like he was talking to himself. The eerie music in the back gives us the impression that Hamlet is not sane. Hamlet then pulls a knife out and points it at himself in the mirror which though not dangerous, shows us he is very serious about the decision “To be or not to be”.

zaktouati said...

Kenneth Baranagh construal of William Shakespeare Hamlet Prince of Denmark definatly relates to act three scence 1 soloique of prince hamlet. In the novel, it shows hamlet sowing his emotion to himself, and like the video, it shows us his emotion by the tone and him looking into a mirror. While looking into the mirror Hamelt starts up by saying “to be or not to be, that is the question”(64) that specific line is by far one of the most famous lines of all time in literature and has been tried to be recreated different ways by people alll over time . As shown in these three videos from three actors that are Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. Even thou all three show a different type of way to accuratly show Hamlets soliloquy but thus, I belive only Kenneth Branagh is the best video that is showing the solilique.

After watching each of the three of the videos, it came very relevant that Kenneth branagh’s video was doing the best at hamlets soliloque. In the video while hamlet says the famous line, he is staring at a mirror of himself with one hand forward as if he is reaching for something. When he says, “To be, or not to be, that is the question” (64) hamlet is starting to wonder about if it is even worth living or not. Whither to just commited suicied or fight life itself. That famous line opens up the whole video greatly by showing us a key factor in Hamlet. By saying that quote, it shows us that he is very emotional and is very sad now about life. While he is speakin, he moves closer and closer towards the mirror showing that his self is getting more and more dramatic whitch like in the novels lures you in as well.

The biggest thing that I really noticed and liked about that video which related acuartly to the novel was the tone that Kenneth made during the whole soliliquy. The tone of hamelt is noticeable that he is not in the good mood and what Kenneth did by swtching his tone by taliing about suicide and then changing his own mind about dieng. The tone contradicts the whole situation of the soliliquy from beginning to the end. In addition, what Kenneth does great is showing us how hamlet is not comfortble with the whole situation, only showing us himself through a mirror represents that hamlet is looking for an answer because he is soo confused at him. Moreover, showing nothing more than him makes us more and more luring into what he says and his powerfull words, giving us a notcibly way of knowing that he is going through a rough time.

The setting in this video is also, what makes this the best fiting video. In the other videos like alexander fodors video , it seems as if he makes the character is some kind of silent recording room which dosnt fit the soliliquy at all , instead of making the viewer lured at the speech , u wonder where he is instead. Also in the third video of the beach, makes no sense of the situation as if he is about to go swimming. Both of these videos do not fit the setting at all, because in the first one if hamlet is at a recording room why would he be going to talk to ophelia after and how could the king be over hearing them. Lastly, in Branagh’s interpretation Hamlet is in a large hall. It has many rooms, which the parents could easily hide behind and listen to the conversation that would occur because it would make sense that ophelia could come to him if he is in a room.I belive that brangh is the only video that only fits hamlets soliliquy because all of the pieces fit together an you can relate and actually enjoy it.

Molly B 7 said...

The line “to be or not to be” (line 64) is one of the most famous lines in literature. The video with Kenneth Branagh is the best fitting video for this scene. The way he talks, slow and low. Where he is, in the foyer of his castle, white with mirrors. When reading Hamlet I can really picture this actually happening. This piece is basically Hamlet talking about him wanting to commit suicide. This speech really puts the whole story together it is very important to understand what’s happening. Then when he pulls out the knife I defiantly feel a connection with the character because he was contemplating killing himself then it all ties together when he decides to pull out a knife. With Kenneth doing the lines I really feel as if it is actually Hamlet. The way he looks at himself in the mirror makes it seem as though he knows something, but at the same time he doesn’t. I also like his costume idea, and the mustache and the hair, it looks contemporary but also the way a prince could wear his hair. I really like how when he talks he doesn’t talk fast, he talks slow, and low to get his point across. I really think that this is the best of the three reenactments of this line.
The second reenactment with Alexander Foder is really bad. I did not like he recorded it. I also did not like he spoke the words, he spoke them very loud and very fast. I did not like how it was in all white, with just him. It seems very inaccurate to what is actually happening. When reading these lines I feel as if Hamlet or the person playing Hamlet should read it slow, because that’s how I see Hamlet. I also believe that Hamlet should be in some type of daze, or not all there, and when Alexander Fodor was reading this it seemed to me that he was all there and not really getting into the part.

Annabel D. 6 said...

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the line, “To be or not to be – that is the question:” (64) has become one of the most famous speeches of all time. In this line and the passage following it, Hamlet questions whether or not he should kill himself. In this passage, Hamlet shows expressions of anger and uncertainty while showing us that he could be losing control of himself and his emotions.
By reading the book and watching this video hamlet shows anger, and me asking my self why would hamlet will say that?. Hamlet is a very confused man. In this video he talks about death or him commit a suicide, all he wants his revenge for his fathers death. Over the video more movie he shows when he is talking about life or death that he prefer to be a live then dead because if he is a live he can get revenge for his father death and if he is dead he figures that he can't get his revenge.
Of watching the video in the beggining i noticed that Hamlet is so depresed and all he wants to do is kill him self.To die, to sleep-“(3, 1, 65-68) He was confusing what should he does. It was hard to decide. In the video by Kenneth Branagh, I thought he was act very well. He was staring his shadow in the mirror. He was thinking about himself. It was corresponded the book. The speech was taking to him. If he stared to the shadow in the mirror that was correct. In the video I don’t think that can show the audience everything about the hamlet, because the light was very bright. It doesn’t feel the pain. In this lines he figures that he should suffer in life and for him to feel the pain then him to die and not suffer. He just believes that life it just a deal of suffering and that it just a pain, basicly that people just come to this world to suffer and be sad all depressed and see all pain and selfsih people that are in this world, and thats why he wants to take revenge for his father because he is so angry that someone had to kill his dad and just not a someone him knowing that his uncle killed his own brother.
Hamlets tone seem calm, confused, and in a dream like state of mind. When I seen the video it really didn't connect with me, I didn't feel that that version was the right one.
When Hamlet is talking to himself in the mirror, he begins to whisper with a lower tone and says “When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?” (83-84) This signifies that Hamlet is very much interested in killing himself because quietus means to quit, which basically means Hamlet is going to quit his life by killing himself. When i saw that Hamlet was talking to him self i really thought that he is really going crazy and i think that he needs help with all this situation because a person talking to them self in a mirror is not really normal and in his expression it really looks like he is really going crazy and saying all this about death and life and revenge and saying that the only way he is going to feel better is if he gets what he wants and that he aint going to let go until he get what he wants, and what he wants is to kill his uncle. Even thought i was suprissed about al this situation because people just hads to understand that all the things that is happinin to him, is a hard process for a person go to, and knowing that a person of your same blood kill there own brother.
I figured that at this point while reading the play that Hamlet was speaking loudly as if scared to kill himself, but then realized after watching the scene that Hamlet was whispering very softly.
Branagh used a nice way to explained Hamlet’s mood at that time. The speed of these three films was different. I think the second was liked reading a book. I can’t see what happen to him. Alexander Fodor didn’t explain more emotion about Hamlet in the film. And the third one was better than the second one. Maybe the third one had incidental music, so I think it was better to explain Hamlet’s feeling at this time.

in conclusion my opinion of how hamlet is acting is not that bad how all his situation is going on right now and all this stuff he got in his head and he doesn't know what he can do all he is thinking is the revenge that he wants to do and he is thinking that this can be the best way to support his problem even thought he is really going crazy, but he is going crazy because he doesn't have no one else to talk to about how he feels