Tormented by the implications of righting his father’s
murder, Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare’s ‘The
Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ has been presented
on film, stage and television in many different ways.
As a
man of action, in the 1990 film by Franco Zeffirelli, as a
member of staff for a corporation called ‘Denmark’,
in the 2000 film of Michael Almereyda and in Laurance Olivier’s
production in 1948 as ‘a man who could not make up his
mind’. In all these different styles of character, Hamlet,
most renowned for the ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy
on life, is characterised by indecision.
However, the long
speeches of Hamlet and his indecision, are what make him a
tragic revenge hero and why the play, in all its different
adaptations fits into the category of revenge tragedy.
Revenge tragedy has been around for centuries. An example
of ancient Greek revenge tragedy that survives is Aeschylus’
‘Oresteia’. In this play, the tragic hero, like
Hamlet, must avenge his Father’s death.
The 1600’s
in England were a popular time for the revenge play. Many
of them were based on Seneca’s revenge plays and contained
a ‘pay-back’ type of theme. Shakespeare may not
have read any Greek tragedy but may have had access to Seneca.
Revenge as a theme may be the motivation for a comic text,
to right a social slight, such as what becomes of the upstart
Malvolio in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’.
However, for a text to fit the category of revenge tragedy
it must contain death and the revenge code-how the death is
to be righted.
What makes a revenge tragedy tragic is not
merely the death of the hero or others but the implications
of avenging a death. A tragic revenge hero must suffer the
complications of his acts. Not only because ‘blood will
have blood’ (Barton p14) but because of what it does
to the character and life of the avenger.
Questions of divine intervention, religion, justice, mortality
and the importance of human life are all issues a tragic revenge
hero must encounter. The reason why ‘Hamlet’ is
such a lengthy play is not merely because he is hesitant or
cannot make up his mind but because he must deal with facing
the consequences for his actions.
In taking revenge there will always be social consequences.
A civilised society cannot ignore murder. Therefore, revenge
is not a straightforward act; it will always ensue implications.
The deed that a revenger sets out to do may change them forever;
they may become bitter or bloodthirsty.
Some avengers such
as Hamlet go mad or appear to have become mad or irrational,
not because the text requires it for length, but because ‘the
strains imposed upon them by the period of lonely preparation
and waiting become psychologically intolerable’ (Barton,
p14).
Revenge is viewed sympathetically by an audience or reader
where the law has failed to pass justice or where there is
not enough evidence to convict the murderer. However, in revenge
tragedy, a hero may lose sympathy after he commits murder,
for he is then stained by it.
This is, however, not an issue
in ‘Hamlet’, either for Hamlet himself or the
other avengers in the play. Hamlet retains sympathy by his
complex character, in his words, thoughts and soliloquies,
and on his questions of mortality and life.
Hamlet does not
include any point in which the hero should relinquish his
acts and leave the revenge to the state or God, as is the
case in other texts of revenge tragedy. However, Hamlets’
ultimate tragedy is that revenge will not give him back the world he has lost forever.
Hamlet is not the only avenger in the play; the tragedy contains
the strong theme of revenge.
Tied in with the theme of revenge
are father and son relationships and blood ties. Laertes whishes
to avenge his Father and later his sister, young Fortinbras
whishes to avenge his father, killed by Hamlet’s father
and Hamlet of course has to avenge his father. Avenging the
death of one’s blood kin is a popular choice for revenge
tragedy.
‘The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ was
written as a theatrical production. Any reproduction of the
play on screen is therefore an adaptation, and it is to the
director’s discretion what is included or omitted, what
themes are focused on and how the scenes are linked together,
in transferring the play to the screen.
The two productions
I have chosen to focus on are ‘William Shakespeare’s
Hamlet’ (1996) directed and starring Kenneth Branagh
and ‘The BBC Shakespeare Hamlet’ (1990) directed
by Rodney Bennet, taped for television.
The productions are
greatly different from each other, yet share some similarities.In
terms of the period of production these two follow Laurance
Olivier’s ‘Hamlet’ in (1948), for which
he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and Franco Zeffirelli’s
1990 production of ‘Hamlet’ starring Mel Gibson.
The BBC version is influenced by neither, it is in colour,
not black and white like Olivier’s’ and it does
not cut any lines or scenes from the original play, like Zeffirelli’s.
Olivier, however may have influenced Branagh, in that he has
bleached his hair for this role.
Branagh has also chosen to
make some the same choices of Shakespearian play adaptations
as Olivier, and is recognised as the ‘current steward’
(McDonald p378) of that tradition. Like Olivier, Branagh was
also nominated for an Academy Award.Originally, the theatre
was a form of entertainment that was mainly verbal, and concentrated
on ‘telling’ to show a production or play.
The
cinema originally tells a story by using a video camera and
‘showing’. In her article on Branagh’s Shakespeare,
Sarah Hatcheul (2000) discusses how now the two acts of ‘showing’
and telling’ have been assimilated in the cinema, introducing
a narrator that is neither verbal nor purely semiotic, but
exterior.
The exterior narrator combines showing and telling,
giving us on screen things such as different characters points
of view of, their imaginings and thoughts, and their reactions.
The exterior narrator also has control over time; it can show
the past by way of flashback, and parallel montage can show
things happening in different places at the same time. The
exterior narrator replaces the verbal one of the theatre.
Hacheul also explains how a movie is made in three stages;
what happens in front of the camera, the actual camera work
and the editing of the film. The narrative of a film is created
through the third stage of editing, which includes what to
omit or include, how to connect different scenes together,
and in what order.
It is through this narrative process that
a film production differs from that of a theatre production.
In the theatre the director has control over what and who
is on the stage, who speaks what line and when. Also in control
of the director are setting, casting, and costume.
However,
what the film narrative can include that the theatre cannot
is the camera and what the camera has the availability to
show in this editing process. The camera can show several
things happening at the same time, it can show memories of
characters and can flashback to the past.
Another aspect of
the exterior narrative is how many things it can show at once,
things can happen at the same time that the spectator is privy
to, but other characters are not.
Shakespeares’ plays however, have never been worried
about time lapses. In some plays up to twenty years pass before
the next act. Shakespeare dealt with this orally in the theatre.
The visual narrator on the screen however, can do it visually.
Both productions deal with the revenge tragedy in similar
ways. Hamlet’s lines in both are reproduced almost to
the letter from the text, as are his actions.
Hamlet is at the beginning of his text already tragic, as
he mourns the death of his father and remarriage of his mother.
When he becomes aware of the revenge he must carry out, he
shows the problems of a revenge hero, he feels like a peasant,
slave and coward for his indecivesness. Hamlet himself is
familiar with revenge plays-as shown with the arrival of the
players at Elsinore, but he cannot make himself like the hero
of one of them. Both productions show the tormented struggle
of the avenger.
Adapting a Shakespearian play to the screen has been done
many times and over the last fifteen years or so, Shakespeare
films have been subject to a lot more variation. It is no
longer standard for a Shakespearian text to be reproduced
exactly as it was written, nor in the same period.
Later Shakespeare
adaptations have been set in a wide variety of different contemporary
settings. ‘Hamlet’ is no exception. The 1990 production
starred Mel Gibson, mainly known for his action movies such
as Mad Max, as Hamlet.
The latest film production, Michael
Almereyda’s ‘Hamlet’ (2000), is set in Manhattan,
and Ethan Hawke as Hamlet, gives the famous soliloquy ‘to
be or not to be’ in the action section aisle of a video
store.
The BBC version of ‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’
was made for television. This is a very important factor to
consider when comparing this production of ‘Hamlet’
to other film adaptations.
As Jose Ramon Diaz-Fernadez discusses
in his article on Shakespeare on television, (2000), one must
recognise what a different medium television is to film and
that dangerous oversimplifications can arise when ‘
the same criteria are applied to a filmed stage performance,
a TV production or film adaptation’.
It must be taken
into account that this production, although on screen is dramatically
different to film productions. Television is made on somewhat
a smaller scale than a Hollywood film. Casts are smaller,
budgets are tighter and most importantly, the director may
not have complete artistic licence. This is very much the
case for the BBC production.
The BBC, in concert with America’s public broadcasting
Service and Time-Life television productions decided on a
project to tape all of Shakespeare’s plays. However,
this huge project did not allow for experimentation, it had
a sense of ‘permanence’ and directors were curbed
in what they could experiment with for; ‘when would
the world be offered another film of ‘Pericles’?’
(McDonald, p380).
As a result, the BBC ‘Hamlet’
is very canonical. Who says what, and when, which scene follows
which and the action are the same as the play almost to the
letter. The setting is simple, and costumes are period.
However, as in theatre there is still room in this television
production for interpretation through the actors. What should
be spoken is controlled yet, not how. Certain actions can
be added and not interfere with the original text. This is
where a director still does have some artistic licence, as
do the actors.
Derek Jacabi as Hamlet demonstrates this well
with his facial expressions and looks at other characters,
paticulary in his scenes with Polonius (Eric Porter) to show
that he is not mad, but only playing on it.
That he realises
what is going on in the ‘nunnery’ scene is obvious
with the question of ‘where is your father?’ which
is spoken, however in actions he listens at the doors to the
lobby. He also realises Ophelia (Lalla Ward) is up to something
by taking the book she is ‘reading’ out of her
hands and putting it right way around.
The setting in the BBC production is very simple and kept
to a minimum as far as setting goes. There are no elaborate
backdrops or props. It is shot solely in a studio with a small
number of room sets used, the chambers of Gertrude, (Claire
Bloom) Polonius and Claudius (Patrick Stewart), the lobby,
hall, the grave site and the ‘port’ where Laertes
(David Robb) bids his family farewell.
The effect of these
settings is similar to watching a taped stage production.
The sets used could easily be recreated for theatre. This
reinforces that the story is a play, an adaptation of a play
and not a film.
Sound effects and music in this production are also kept quite
minimal. Music is only to signal action, such as when the
ghost of Hamlet’s father (Patrick Allen) appears or
when Ophelia is buried. Sound effects are limited, the sound
of seagulls at the port, trumpets for the King's revelry and
voices in the background when Laertes returns, all of which
could be reproduced on stage.
The cast of the production is quite small, it contains all
the characters as included in Shakespeare’s play, and
a few extras, in the scenes where the court is assembled,
in the background at the port and playing dice in the hall.
The editing of the production is also quite simple. One scene
moves quickly onto the next, there are no slow fade in and
outs, no blackouts, no slow motion, no long musical interludes.
The fact that this is a television production shot in a studio
is very apparent, as there are no scenes shot on location,
no stills of backgrounds or buildings and no long panning
shots. This too reinforces that we are watching an adaptation
of a play.
When in the theatre, our vision is limited to what is on the
stage, which is in full view of the audience the whole time.
In television and film the action may be taking place in two
separate places which the spectator has access to.
This is
not the case in the BBC production, all the action takes place
before us and is mainly from a single point of view-that which
the camera is focusing on at the time. Hamlet, when delivering
the famous soliloquies, sometimes looks directly at the camera.
This also reinforces the adaptation of a play, a Hamlet on
stage would also perhaps look at the audience at these points.
The lack of directorial experimentation makes the BBC achieves
their objective of producing a version faithful to the text,
canonical and straightforward. The audience has no other factors
to deal with, simply the action before them.
The lack of experimental elements also puts the main focus
of the production on the dialogue, the speeches and soliloquies
of Hamlet, which is why the play is acclaimed a masterpiece.
As far as casting goes, Derek Jacobi is a convincing Hamlet,
the amount of interpretation the role allows him is done well.
Ophelia is perfectly cast as a gentle sweet and pretty maid,
which makes for all the more shocking when she goes mad. Claudius
comes across sufficiently arrogant, and Gertrude a caring
mother, though unchaste wife. Polonius is cast perfectly as
the pompous old interfering fool-such as he appears in the
play.
Branagh’s production differs greatly from the BBC production
for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a film, not a television
production. Secondly, Branagh does not have to curb his directorial
style; he adds scenes and develops characters. Thirdly, this
film uses the exterior narrator. ‘Branagh makes effective use of the specific cinema
narration drives that modify the original play, ellipsis,
flashbacks, and parallel montage.’ (Hatcheul 2000).
This results in heightened drama, greater tension and character
development.
Branagh’s casting differs greatly to that of the BBC
production. He uses an international cast and allows actors
to keep their accents.
He uses a great deal more extras, the
court when fully assembled and the army of Fortinbras. Branagh
also, as he is noted in his Shakespearian adaptations, uses
actors not well known for classical roles.
In ‘Hamlet’
these actors are Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.
The BBC production focuses on Hamlets’ torment through
dialogue, speeches, thoughts and indecision. Branagh's film
focuses more on the torment Hamlet must actually see daily,
his uncle and his mother, and also flashbacks, remembering
his life before his Fathers’ death.
The characters of Ophelia (Kate Winslet) and Hamlet (Kenneth
Branagh) are more developed in this film than those of the
BBC production. Branagh achieves this development by using
voiceovers, and the exterior narrator to supply flashbacks,
allowing the audience to see their thoughts and memories.
Ophelia thinks instead of says ‘I will obey my Lord’,
in the scene where Polonius (Richard Briers) tells her to
stay away from Hamlet. We get flashbacks of her thoughts,
including passionate scenes in bed with Hamlet, giving us
an idea of their past relationship, something neither the
original text nor the BBC production do much of.
Branagh also
adds scenes with Ophelia. When her father is borne away dead,
she flings herself on the gate screaming. We see her being
hosed down in her cell, and later taking the key out of her
mouth. This provides an explanation to how she escaped from
her cell after the king ordered ‘let her be watched
over closely’ –something we do not see in the
BBC production.
In providing the flashbacks to her bedroom
encounters with Hamlet, Branagh also builds upon the suggestion
that Ophelia may have been with child when she took her own
life. Branagh also allows Ophelia to read the letter from
Hamlet in front of the King and Queen which does not happen
in the play, however overcome by emotion she cannot finish
it.
In her ‘mad’ scene the focus is more strongly
on her then the reactions of those around her, as is the case
in the BBC production. Instead of her singing being wild and
garbled as she skips around she is seen in a still shot and
sings slowly and plaintively.
The result of Ophelia’s
character development is to make her role more subjective,
getting across her point of view to the spectator, something,
which the Ophelia in the play or on the BBC production does
not do.
Ophelia’s subjectivity enhances what Hamlet
has done to her by killing her father and rebuking her love,
showing the consequences of the avenger’s actions. Flashbacks
serve to make most roles in this production subjective.
When
Claudius (Derek Jacobi) is racked with guilt he flashes back
to murdering the king. Hamlet has flashbacks to when he was
a child playing with Yorick (Ken Dodd), whose skull he now
holds in his hand.
Polonius is again cast as a meddling man, yet his character
has room for development in the scenes where we see him alone
with another character. When he speaks with Ophelia about
her relationship with Hamlet, he is not giving ‘fatherly
advice’ such as it is portrayed in the BBC production,
but rudely chastising her to stay away from Hamlet.
In the
BBC production he is seen as merely looking out for his son,
when addressing a messenger to go to France. In Branagh's
film he comes across as more cunning. The line ‘what
did I just say?’ in the BBC production makes him appear
old and forgetful. In Branagh’s film it makes him seem
as though he is checking that his messenger is listening closely.
There is also a prostitute in his chamber at the beginning
of the scene. Polonius is shown to be cunning and calculating,
perhaps even deceitful and ambitious. Claudius in this production,
plays the old man as smug and arrogant, much the same as the
BBC Claudius, yet the extra scenes Branagh include show his
character more deeply.
His behaviour, which is so intolerable
to Hamlet, is only reported in the BBC production. In Branagh’s
film extra scenes are included as well as the dialogue, showing
him drinking heavily and literally jumping into bed with Gertrude.
(Julie Christie)
Yet Branagh does not cut any lines from the play or introduce
new ones, he works with the same verbal material as the BBC
production. In this respect Branagh’s film is unique
as modern Shakespearian directors generally cut a lot of lines
from the original play.
To create tension Branagh has also used cross-cutting or parallel
montage. This takes place when Hamlet is apologising to Laertes
(Michael Moloney) and the army of Fortinbras (Rufus Sewell)
is storming the castle.
What is happening with ‘old
Norway’ (John Mills) and Fortinbras is also shown, not
only reported verbally by one of the characters, as in the
BBC production. What the flashbacks and cross-cutting serve
to do is not only create tension and subjectivity but to give
ideas and images to the audience, of how the original play
can be interpreted.
By showing flashbacks of Claudius and
Gertrude before the king was murdered, the suggestion to the
viewer is they may have been having an affair before the King
died. Ophelia’s love scenes with Hamlet suggest she
may have been pregnant, and that Polonius was justified in
speaking harshly to her previously.
These scenes also make
the text of ‘Hamlet’, which is quite complex,
more accessible to a wider audience. For those spectators
who are unfamiliar with the play or find it hard to understand,
the extra scenes and flashbacks help.
However, above all they
work with the revenge theme, what Hamlet must be tormented
by seeing and how his role as the avenger affects others. Editing also included is the different point of view for each
of the characters.
‘Like many Shakespearian directors, Branagh shoots long
sequences in one continuous take. He says one unbroken shot
can allow the characters to interact with each other and retain
a certain idea of theatre.
The spectator too, also gets several
points of view from one take.’ ( Hatcheul 2000)
The scene with Hamlet and Gertrude in Gretrude's chamber is
a good example of this. The ghost of Hamlet’s father
(Brian Blessed) appears to Hamlet in this scene to remind
him of his ‘almost blunted purpose’.
In the theatre
either Hamlet’s or Gretrude’s point of view would
have to be shown-as Gertrude cannot see the ghost. Either
the ghost appeared on stage or was heard off stage.
The visual
narrator however, can show both points of view to the spectator.
In both productions, Branagh’s and BBC’s the two
different points of view are shown, Gertrude seeing nothing
and Hamlet, his Father’s ghost.
Branagh also uses quasi-subliminal deception in the scene
where Hamlet decides to kill Claudius, but then changes his
mind as Claudius is at prayer and will go to heaven. It actually
shows Claudius being stabbed, however it doesn’t actually
happen- this is the type of subjectivity we get from editing,
which serves to show Hamlets’ thoughts, and to reinforce
the revenge theme.
The setting of Branagh’s film is dramatically different
to that of the BBC production. It shoots on location and there
are scenes about the grounds of the palace. The palace itself
is huge with myriads of rooms; the lobby has another storey
with a staircase that goes the whole way around. The sets
are a lot more detailed.
There are also a large amount of
doors, secret and false ones. In this way the actual setting
shows different points of view. One of the mirrored doors
in the lobby is a two-way mirror that enables us to see the
point of view and reactions of Polonius and Claudius when
Hamlet delivers his speech ‘to be or not to be’,
directly to his reflection.
Although the process of editing, character development and
setting make Branagh’s film dramatically different to
the BBC production, both films use the same text. Both are
an example of how wide the scope for interpretation is with
Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’.
In terms of revenge
tragedy, both productions face it in much the same way, Hamlet
speaks his lines as in the play to show his suffering and
torment as an avenging hero. The other characters such as
Laertes carry the theme of revenge also through their lines,
as do the other characters that are affected by Hamlet’s
task.
The difference in the two productions in approaching
the category of revenge tragedy is what the film camera is
capable of showing to the spectator by the exterior narrator.
Thus the torment of Hamlet and other characters is shown in
both productions, but is heightened in by Branagh’s
use of subjectivity, and flashbacks.
Both productions, by basing themselves clearly on the text
become revenge tragedies. If lines or scenes were cut out
if Hamlet was not allowed all his soliloquies the struggle
of the avenger would be lessened.
Please note: The above essays and dissertations were written by students and then submitted to us to display and help others. Thanks to all the students who have submitted their work to us.
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