Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be" speech is the best known speech from the story Hamlet. The "To Be Or Not To Be" speech is given many times and each time is a little different. The first performance was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and Starred Mel Gibson. In this version Hamlet is by himself in a basement surrounded by stone coffins with stone people on top. Hamlet paces around and leans on different coffins. It is dark and gives a gloomy feeling very early on. The coffins give the idea of death. These things affect the scene because it makes people think Hamlet is seriously thinking about death and killing himself, because he is surrounded by death related items.
The second performance of the "To Be Or Not To Be" speech was directed by and starred Lawrence Olivier. In this edition Hamlet gives his speech by himself, sitting on a rock, on top of a cliff. It is cloudy and foggy outside. The clip is black and white which gives it an older look. I don't take him as seriously as the other performances, because he's in the clouds and sitting on a rock. At one point he holds a dagger, but that is the only thing that suggests some type of suicide until the end when he looks over the edge of the cliff.
The third piece was directed by and starred Kenneth Branaugh. In this performance of the speech Hamlet is in a royal looking room with mirrors. It looks more current then the others. The colors are not as dark as the other two versions. The room is gold and white with a black and white checkered floor. This makes the mood less sad and depressing. He gives the speech to himself while looking in the mirror, but other people are watching him. In the other two versions Hamlet is the only one there. Hamlet holds a dagger up to his throat. He makes it look like he is really about to kill himself, but he gets interrupted by a woman running into the room. This setting makes you think he is crazy because he's thinking of killing himself while he's in this wonderful and fancy palace.
All three performances had the same speech but the settings of each set a different mood for them. Some of them were dark and some of them were not taken as serious. The settings and props affects the scenes significantly. It makes you think about the stability of the actual person and what they are feeling and what they may be thinking at that moment. When a man is giving the "To Be Or Not To Be" speech while holding a dagger up to their neck, it hits you over the head pretty hard that he is thinking of suicide. If he was not holding the dagger, would you think he was serious? It all depends on the settings and the props.
I never considered the effect of the lavish surroundings in Branaugh's version -how he reminds the audience that Hamlet is suicidal despite being wealthy, powerful, priveledged, etc.
ReplyDelete-You show real insight in pointing this out.
-Well done.
I find your interpretations of the three clips very interesting. It didn't strike me that Branaugh's Hamlet was contemplating suicide in such an opulent room until you mentioned it. With all that is going on in the story, at times one almost forgets that Hamlet is a prince and grew up in such lavish surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI find it intriguing that Olivier's version is the one you couldn't take as seriously. I find it to be the exact opposite. To me he seems the most likely to actually kill himself BECAUSE of the cliff (in addition to the dagger, of course). He's just inches away from falling to his death, as opposed to the other Hamlets who are safe on the ground in their castles.
You did point out a very meaningful idea about the third clip. It almost shows that no matter how much wealth you have in your name it still wont make you happy, no matter what time you grow up in. However like Jenn said, I felt that he was going to kill himself. I didn't know how but it seemed more like jumping off the tower than by using the dagger. Good job !
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