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- Category: English: Shakespeare
- Date Submitted: 10/11/2010 03:46 PM
- Pages: 3
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Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy is seen as a milestone in the play, a moment where Claudius and Polonius attempt to gain insight into the mind of troubled hamlet; to identify his madness. This is said to be the moment we can see Hamlet truly descending into madness. He is not asking specifically the question, ‘should I stay alive, or should I kill myself,’ he is questioning the very thought of existence itself. The two film versions of the scene; the Kenneth Branagh version, and the Mel Gibson version, represent this question in different ways. Gibson’s version shows hamlet as a submissive character, defeated and in little control of his emotions, whereas Branagh’s version shows him as assertive, his madness questioned by his method.
The two scenes clash; showing different interpretations of the same scene, different takes on the madness of the character and his outlooks on death and suicide.
The setting of the scene in both versions contributes to the mood both Hamlets find themselves in, the background helping to represent the mood of their suggested madness. The Mel Gibson version, showing young hamlet pacing the surroundings of a small crypt, provide a sombre setting, a real question of his attitude towards death, an insight into his feelings, the dark atmosphere echoing his dark thoughts. In this version, when he speaks the line “to be or not to be, that is the question,” the infliction of his voice does not change; he appears to not be asking the question at all, merely posing it to the viewer as a statement to perhaps reflect upon themselves. This gives the impression of his not caring about what the answer is to this question he is pondering, he is merely saying it, like a script written to convince the on watching Polonius and Claudius of his supposed madness.
Branagh’s version however, is well lit, and coincidently it is Branagh’s representation of the character hamlet that seems to be in more control, a more assertive character, like the room...
The two scenes clash; showing different interpretations of the same scene, different takes on the madness of the character and his outlooks on death and suicide.
The setting of the scene in both versions contributes to the mood both Hamlets find themselves in, the background helping to represent the mood of their suggested madness. The Mel Gibson version, showing young hamlet pacing the surroundings of a small crypt, provide a sombre setting, a real question of his attitude towards death, an insight into his feelings, the dark atmosphere echoing his dark thoughts. In this version, when he speaks the line “to be or not to be, that is the question,” the infliction of his voice does not change; he appears to not be asking the question at all, merely posing it to the viewer as a statement to perhaps reflect upon themselves. This gives the impression of his not caring about what the answer is to this question he is pondering, he is merely saying it, like a script written to convince the on watching Polonius and Claudius of his supposed madness.
Branagh’s version however, is well lit, and coincidently it is Branagh’s representation of the character hamlet that seems to be in more control, a more assertive character, like the room...