Hamlet (III. i. 64-96)
To be or not to be – that is the question:
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 –
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. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the 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,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
Below are four different interpretations of Hamlet's famous soliloquy from Act 3, scene 1.Please view all four clips in the following order:
1) 1948 - The timeless performance by Laurence Olivier.
2) 2000 - Ethan Hawke's Hamlet drifts into a Blockbuster video. Notice which section he walks through.
3) 1996 - Kenneth Brannah's Hamlet speaking a mirror image of himself (Note: Hamlet's Uncle Claudius and Polonius are hiding behind the glass).
4) 2009 - David Tennant's Hamlet - A more modern and nuanced performance.
5) 1990 - Mel Gibson's Hamlet - Notice the choice of location and the intensity of the performance.
Can't decide if I like Kenneth Brannah's or David Tennant's more. I enjoyed those two performances the most probably because they were the most creepy, in my opinion. The talking to your reflection while you contemplate killing yourself is really intense, and I really like the shadows in Tennant's.
ReplyDeleteI liked Ethan Hawke's performance the best. His voice, facial expressions, accompanying music, and the action movie playing on the screen were all well done, and added more to the words he spoke.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite take on the scene was in the Kenneth Brannah's version. The addition of Claudius and Polonius hidding behind the glass made the speech interesting. All of the different people present meant there was be a lot more to think about. As a viewer I was not only able to know my own views on the speech but also see Hamlet's through his actions, words and speech delivery, and some of Claudiuses' and Poloniu's thoughts aswell. And even what I didn't know I could make guesses about which engaged me more in the clip.
ReplyDeleteEllie Yates
DeleteI liked the Mel Gibson one and the Kenneth Brannah one equally, they both had the sort of contemplative aire about them that made you feel their troubles, but I have to say my favorite is the David Tennet one. He is one of my favorite actors and you can feel the seriousness in his voice. You can tell he is actually considering what he's about to do.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the Kenneth Brannah's Hamlet interpretation. I agree with Morgan I also liked how dark and intense it was. I was actually a little distracted by the quick shots of Claudius and Polonius. other than that I enjoyed the visual of him holding the knife to his reflection.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed Kenneth Brannah's version. I was intrigued when he began to speak to his reflection as if he was not only reasoning but arguing with himself. The moment that really captured me was when he held the dagger to his throat, you could see the philosophical insanity in his eyes.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Mel Gibson's version. The soliloquy changes in tone several times, most noticeably when Hamlet goes from complementing suicide to questioning the afterlife with the line "Ay, there's the rub". Here Hamlet changes from "woe is me" to anger at peoples "cowardice" and the unknown. Most of the performances had these changes in tone. In Olivier's he goes from pointing the knife towards himself to pointing the knife outwards, to the world. He also drops the knife as he heads off stage, showing that Hamlet no longer desires to kill himself. Brannah has the change later in the speech, at "bare Bodkin", and he shows this by taking out the knife. Ethan Hawke uses the scene from the action movie. Tennant uses eye contact with the audience. I think that Mel Gibson does it the best, though. All of his pauses highlight important parts in the soliloquy, and his increasing emotion and passion throughout the scene shows Hamlet's changing opinion.
ReplyDeleteI like Mel Gibson's performance the most because I find that it is the most intense out of all five videos. Along with that, I feel that the setting for Mel Gibson's Hamlet, along with Kenneth Brannah's Hamlet make the most sense. Therefore I think that Mel GIbson has the best performance due to his expression and cinematography.
ReplyDelete-Alex Wessel
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ReplyDeleteThe Performance I liked the best was the 1996- Kenneth Brannah’s Hamlet speaking a mirror image of himself when Hamlet’s uncle Claudius and Polonius are hiding behind the glass. The reason why I liked this performances out of the others is because it is more intense because he's looking at himself in the mirror contemplating on to live or not to live. But he doesn't know that his uncle is on the other other side listening to what he is saying. Hamlet pulls out a dagger and holds it up to the mirror like he was going to kill his uncle so the uncle got frightened. I wonder if Hamlet knew that his uncle could see him on the other side of the mirror? And what will happen to him after his uncle witnesses what he said to himself?
ReplyDeleteI liked the 1996 version the best out of all of the performances. I think that it was a bold creative choice for the directors when they had Hamlet speak to himself in a mirror. The framing of the scene is the best out of all of the others because it gives the clip a sense of foreshadowing. It also helps that the people that he are trying to kill are behind that mirror watching him, and they can hear everything that he is saying along with seeing him brandish the dagger in front of the mirror. I just like everything about that scene, and the other videos seem bland in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI liked Kenneth Brannah's performance, simply because of the dark and gloomy tone that he sets throughout it. I think he makes the dagger scene more intense than any other of the performances, that's why I think the other performances are not as great as this one, the other videos just seem bland in comparison to this.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought that Kenneth Brannah's portrayal of Hamlet was incredible. How he moved very little and kept his focus on his reflection depicted the message of the monologue and of his uncertainty. Like Madeline mentioned, the part where he holds the dagger to him and has a mad look in his eyes was very moving as it captured his fall into insanity. Brannah also put a lot of emotion into his words so that, thankfully, it did not sound just like a recitation of the words. The use of the mirror added something very poignant and artistic to the scene as well, especially considering the fact that Hamlet's uncle was watching from behind it. Although I'm not too familiar with the play, I understand from the clip that having Hamlet and his uncle on the two different sides of the mirror is meant to show the contrast between the two characters.
ReplyDeleteI liked Laurence Olivier’s version the most because of its old timey-ness. I also liked Mel Brook’s version because of the aesthetics in the scene.
ReplyDelete-Matthew Hebert
The scene that caught my attention was Kenneth Brannah's in 1996, in the way he uses the dagger to his advantage, in waving it around. His approach seemed most aggressive and portrayed his insanity. However, I felt that David Tennant's scene from 2009 was as good a perfomance. While there was less of an artistic side to this scene, I feel as though his body language and tone of voice appealed less to the crazy side of insanity.
ReplyDeleteI like Mel Gibsons performance the best because the lighting and the location emphasizes the solitude and isolation of the scene and Mel Gibson is a good actor in general.
ReplyDelete(Isaac Mezher)
I thought that the Mel Gibson version was the best because his tone during his very long soliloqui was great. I also thought that during the daggger scene in this was much better than the other's. Mel Gibson didn't over react the scene and the setting of the entire scene made it better.
ReplyDeleteI thought Mel Gibson’s performance was the superior to his peer based on the way he is able to convey the ideas present in Hamlet’s speech. In the speech Hamlet is contemplating suicide. He is actively working through ideas that are very challenging and hard to get through. The other actors took this speech and spoke it softly and slowly. To me this seems as if he already knows what he is going to say, and he isn’t really working through these ideas rather he is just saying them so the viewer will understand his thoughts. Mel Gibson on the other hand speaks with a bit more force and speed. This adds a sense of urgency and much more adequately displays this internal debate of much importance. I see it as if someone were to have a very serious talk to themselves about a matter such as this they wouldn’t slowly shuffle through these ideas, instead I feel that they would work through it at the pace that it comes to them and that as they progressed through the idea the pace and tone would quicken. I believe Mel Gibson’s did that the best of the actor presented to me.
ReplyDelete-Kelton Lin
Out of all the following variations/ interpretations of Hamlet's famous soliloquy, I would have to say Mel Gibson's version best presented the mood and emotions of the the play in their own way. I found that Mel Gibson and Kenneth Brannah's versions best portrayed what I felt from the tragedy. Though I felt as though these two versions were the best in terms of presenting the audience with overall emotion in greater depth, my personal favorite among the following would have to be Laurence Olivier's version. I love how dramatized it was and just enjoyed watching it.
ReplyDeleteThe Hamlet that i liked best was the 1996 Kenneth Brannah one. I loved how vivid the scene felt and how brilliant his acting was. I also loved how ironic it was that he was contemplating killing himself or killing his uncle, and while he was pointing a knife at his reflection in the mirror, his uncle was right behind it.
ReplyDeleteWhen asked to choose the best portrayal I find myself struggling to decide between the Mel Gibson version and the Kenneth Branna one. I found that both scenes had strong portrayals from each of their respective actors, I feel as though both of them strongly delivered the heavy thoughts of their character to the audience, and they conveyed their feelings quite well. Considering that they are both contemplating their own suicide. I also appreciated the scenery and effects in both versions as it really helped set the tone for the soliloquy to be delivered.
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