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Megan Kao

Herzman

English 11H, P5

14 March, 2011

Hamlet:

Ask a hundred bachelors to each plan a wedding proposal, each one will be different.

From the setting, to the timing, to the music playing the background, every detail gives the

proposals own unique feel, even though ultimately the bachelors all say the exact same line,

“Will you marry me?” Similarly, Shakespeare’s play Hamlet was virtually inalterable.

Shakespeare wrote with a combination of pith and exactitude, each line critical in understanding

the speech’s message. However, Shakespeare left directors and actors the freedom to interpret

the characters through varieties of facial expression, volume, tone, and costume. Even with the

same speaking parts, characters could have various personas. In two of the many Hamlet

renditions, the 1996 unabridged film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, and the 2009

television adaptation directed by Gregory Doran, we see the contrasting focuses of directors both

depicting the same a cynical Hamlet. The former highlights Hamlet’s open vengeance and

embitterment, whereas the latter focuses Hamlet’s internal boyishness and fear. Because of

Hamlet’s unpredictable actions in the presence of others, soliloquys are best source to understand

the true thoughts of Hamlet. With their individual interpretations of Hamlet, Branagh and Doran

In the Act 2 Scene 2 soliloquy, Hamlet takes a momentary break to evaluate his own

productivity. Because he is in solitude, Hamlet has no reason to uphold the multitude of faces
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and concealed emotions; thus, by the nature of soliloquys, he will reveal his real emotions and

opinions of himself. In Doran’s film, David Tennant finds Hamlet’s boyish and fearful nature, a

side often shadowed by Hamlet’s seemingly cold and cynical outside personality. At the opening

of the scene, Hamlet throws his shoes off in an initially frustrated manner, only to retreat to a

small corner in a colorless banquet hall. He does not sit in the golden embroidered thrones, but

rather huddles unmoving and silent to calm down. As Hamlet speaks, he leaves pauses between

lines long enough for the audience to digest the sorry sight: a wearied pale and skinny boy

reproaching himself for being a useless “rogue and peasant slave” (2.2.587). Even as he speaks,

Hamlet regularly looks back at the camera, as if searching for approval. Hamlet seems unable to

trust himself in avenging his father ‘properly,’ and thus chooses to revert back to his self-

doubting ways. He goes as far as venturing to break the fourth wall and sincerely asks the

audience, “Am I a coward?” (2.2.598), creating an almost sad comedic effect. Hamlet dons a

confident mask, but beyond that lays boyish self-doubt.

However, the initial sullen deprecations drive a certain rage in Hamlet, for he jumps up in

a burst and speaks in a louder and more aggressive tone. His wild-eyed, emphatic usage of the

stage space projects an unnerving attribute. Hamlet fears incompetence, for the player’s

emotional and captivating performance served as wake-up call and prompts him to reevaluate his

course of action. Realizing that he has not been on task, Hamlet tries to convince himself to

become more proactive, ultimately crying, “Vengeance!” (2.2.610). He refuses to let others one

up him and desires to become a man in order to fulfill his duty to avenge his father. Doran

portrays a Hamlet undergoing constant changes in attitude between fear and aggression. Though

the emotional turbulence prevents a conclusion, it ultimately exposes Hamlet’s under the surface
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boyish emotions. Using the misleading six-pack shirt as a pivotal point, Doran captures not only

Hamlet’s aggression, but also his insecurities.

While Doran’s rendition sought to weave in Hamlet’s dual personality, Branagh’s version

portrayed a Hamlet whose emotions would be easily understood through visuals and audio.

Branagh’s Hamlet fills up the screen with a dominating presence, achieved through his

extravagant body language and attitude. As soon as the scene opens with Hamlet dramatically

slamming the door behind, we immediately hear Hamlet’s tense heaving. There is not a

moment’s worth of silence, forcing the audience to ride along with Hamlet’s unrelenting manner

of speech and actions. Unlike Tennant’s Hamlet who reveals his complex character through

puzzling behavioral fluctuations, Branagh’s Hamlet conveys through outright expression of

emotion. To focus on Branagh’s dramatic facial expressions and actions, the camera strays no

father than five feet from Hamlet. His sequence of action is almost predictable as he expresses

his frustration by instinct—violence. Destroying furniture and raising voices are only too

familiar to those who have passed adolescence. Hamlet’s emotions never deviates from resent

and anger and seamlessly transitions between those two courses. Although this Hamlet appears

more emotional, Branagh makes sure that he keeps Hamlet by not losing his total composure.

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