Preview

Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
125 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet
Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet was the first uncut film version of Shakespeare’s most challenging tragedy. In my opinion, his dedication to stay true to the original text was greatly appreciated. It helped the play tremendously by coming to life on the screen, making it easier for people holding the text while watching and enabling them to analyze the text without any confusion. Branagh’s flashbacks helped to clear up many ambiguities in the text. For example, how far the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia really went. All in all, not only does this version contain some brilliant performances by actors both familiar and not familiar with Shakespeare. It is presented in a way that each and every individual that chooses to watch can follow along

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet is shot with bright lighting in the 19th-century palace ballroom. Through costuming and lighting, Branagh’s Hamlet immerses the audience. Yet, David Tennant delivers his soliloquy in a dimly lit throne room. The dim lights and simple costuming allow the audience to maintain attention on Hamlet’s internal debate. In both scenes, the costuming, lighting, and camera angles draw in the viewer. Yet, Tennant's Hamlet is able to go a step further and captures the idea that Hamlet is truly debating with himself.…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Essay

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Shakespeare composed Hamlet as a representation of the conflict inherent in issues surrounding life and death and the many reinterpretations of the text attest to Catherine Belsey’s theory of the ‘myth of an unchanging human nature’. Modern interpretations of Hamlet such as Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 film use the medium of film and existential issues to create new meaning from Shakespeare’s original text.…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' remains at the pinnacle of high culture texts and the cannon as one of the most iconic texts in the modern world. 'Hamlet' is a deeply philosophical in which grapples with metaphysical questions- existential in nature that underpins the human ethos. It is through the highly charged language, textual integrity and use of meta-theatrical techniques that ensure the play's modernity and continuing resonance in society through multiple perspectives.…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, while being an inherently visual work, lacks detailed stage directions, and instead consists mainly of dialogue. This ambiguity in Shakespeare’s intention for the space in which the play is to be presented is interesting because it allows directors and actors wide latitude with which to create a setting that accurately represents the tone and themes found within the dialogue of the play. However, the setting of the play is often irrelevant to portraying Hamlet’s themes because much of the meaning can be derived from the interactions and dialogue between characters. The role of setting is then most important in terms of keeping the audience engaged in the work when the characters recite monologues. For instance, Hamlet, during his monologues, often finds himself alone and as such the actor cannot portray the themes of the play through interactions with other actors but instead through interactions with the environment surrounding him.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Any critical evaluation of the play “Hamlet” must be chiefly concerned with the character of Hamlet. Unlike Shakespeare’s other tragedies, “Hamlet” is singular in purpose and scope-it is the story of one man’s personal and moral collapse under the weight of his own (and other’s) decisions, intentions and machinations. The play is not complicated with subplots and extraneous secondary characters, but is wholly focused on the man himself. This dedication to a singular dramatic intention paradoxically makes for “Hamlet” to be, subjectively, Shakespeare most confusing play. It is problematic in its protagonists’ inscrutability, his missing motives, his contradictory actions, and his utter implacability to settle into one stable character. Almost everything he does further contradicts him as an individual in the world of the play and as a dramatic character. For this reason my critical evaluation of the play is that it is artistically self defeating due to its own subversions of character and dramatic convention, and this should render it unfulfilling and disappointing as a dramatic performance. Paradoxically, the plays confusion renders it all the more infuriatingly readable-it is both alienating and enticing, a work which defeats itself in its own realisation and at the same time is only worthwhile and meaningful in this artistic enigma-the individual components should not work, yet it does strike a powerful emotional and dramatic resonance in its completion. Many aspects of “Hamlet” as a text are easily criticised-it is certainly a work with a large amount of problems. However, in a rather subversive and mysterious manner the play is a wonderful work of literature.…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Shakespeare Major Paper

    • 2842 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet himself is a difficult character to figure out. With his elegant intensity and reckless but cautious attitude, he is able to keep his readers entertained as the play progresses. Through his irrational decisions, emotional madness and admirable qualities, Hamlet becomes a character with whom readers will continuously empathize. Our first impression of Hamlet sets the tone for the entire play. We are brought to one of the beginning scenes where Hamlet is…

    • 2842 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Branagh's Soliloquy Essay

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Kenneth Branagh’s production of Hamlet and The Royal Shakespeare’s Company production of Hamlet are hard to compare with each other. In terms of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy in the portrait scene, his meeting with Ophelia, the queen’s ability to stand up for herself and Hamlet’s reaction and response to his father’s ghost, the Branagh Hamlet exceeds my expectations on how these parts are performed.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The title of the piece was Hamlet in movie form. The movie was Kenneth Branagh and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The movie is about a prince whose father is murdered by his uncle. Starts with Hamlet attending his father’s funeral. Hamlet is upset because, his mother remarried his uncle. Hamlet is beyond mad and see his father’s ghost that tells him uncle murdered him. Hamlet thinks he going crazy and struggles with dealing with losing his mind and with murder uncle and betraying mother. In novel form the book would be really long and hard to read with it being in old English.…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two movie versions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that are directed by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh have similarities and differences. The similarities include how Hamlet feels betrayed by his mother because of her sudden marriage after the death of his father. The differences include how Hamlet is portrayed as a character. Olivier uses the Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude and his soliloquy to portray Hamlet as confused, whereas Branagh uses the same dynamics to portray Hamlet as furious.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    hamlet

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A huge evolutionary leap is about to take place in our world. Children being born now should be nurtured and cared for with loving arms, so that they can unlock their full potential. “Namastecafe.com” says, “these children are here to show us the way, and so the information can be applied more generally to all of us as we make the transition to the next stage of our growth and evolution”. These children are known as “The Indigos”, Indigo because in the psychic perspective they emit an indigo color light or aura in the spiritual world. The Indigo’s have a warrior’s spirit and they are here to abolish government, educational, and legal systems that lack integrity. Every society undergoes evolutionary change to better the world in which we live in. The generation of Indigo’s is the next evolutionary step, they live by the “Law of One” meaning everyone is equal and everything they do is to better the community as a whole. This “Unity Consciousness” will help reveal to us our inner power and divinity. Our world as we know it is in a dysfunctional state of authority and power, it is falling apart. We should acknowledge these extremely powerful children, with their reluctant force of love and peace, they will be the next generation to bring the light onto our planet.…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Tennant's Hamlet

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The BBC’s great performances production of Hamlet is a unique contemporary adaption of Shakespeare’s play. The film was directed by Gregory Doran and starred David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart. Despite the change in time setting and other small adjustments made to the film more appealing for the small screen, Doran’s adaption of Hamlet was intriguing and stayed true to the overall feel of the Shakespeare’s play.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The second version of Hamlet that I watched was directed by Kenneth Branagh. This movie did a great job at actually telling the story of Hamlet. Branagh made the story very easy to understand by the way he directed it. While a character was describing something, or telling a story about something, you would actually see it going on so you could understand it more. I really liked that. It helped to keep the story moving and to lighten it a little. Sometimes it is hard to concentrate on what the characters are saying because of how the…

    • 779 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Marsden's Hamlet

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In John Marsden’s adaptation of the classic novel ‘Hamlet’, Hamlet’s mental state is a controversial topic. Hamlet, from the beginning of the novel is probably not the most mentally sound person. He is an unconventional character who never really seems to fit in with those around him. As a person living in the renaissance, he acts far ahead of his time. Hamlet’s many struggles and burdens definitely had an impact on him psychologically. Due to this, Hamlet’s temperament is often inconsistent and erratic. The author purposefully portrays Hamlet in this way to portray the complexity of the human mind. ‘Crazy’ may not be the most appropriate way to describe Hamlet, rather, he seems depressed. Hamlet is often misunderstood, and although he may…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A foil character is a character who provides a contrast to another character. In the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare there are multiple foil characters who not only provide a contrast to one another but share some similarities as well. All the foils in this book are foils of none other than the main character, Hamlet. The first foil character is Fortinbras, although he is not a major character in the play he does play an important role. Like Hamlet, Fortinbras’ father has also passed away and his uncle has taken over as the King of his country, Norway. However, unlike Hamlet he is not set on vengeance due to the death of his father. Fortinbras also takes leadership into his own hands by creating his own army and taking on the land of Poland when Hamlet can’t even make the decision to kill his uncle or show his true feelings about the marriage between Gertrude and Claudius. Laertes, son of Polonius and brother to Ophelia is also a close foil to Hamlet in this play. Although he does not truly become a foil to Hamlet until act 3 he still plays an important role. In act 3, Hamlet murders Polonius thinking that he is Claudius when coming out from behind the curtain. It is shortly after this scene that Laertes becomes enraged and is then made into a foil of Hamlet. They are both in similar situations of dealing with the murder of their fathers as well as the belief of having to avenge those murders. With Laertes’ revenge he does not wait patiently and think about what he must do like Hamlet does throughout the play, instead he acts on impulse and without thought. He knows and believes that he has to avenge his fathers death and has the passion and dedication to do so right away unlike Hamlet. Hamlet is patient with the avenge of his fathers death and for many logical reasons. He has to make sure what he is being told by the ghost is in fact what happened and by changing himself to act crazy and planning the play to catch Claudius’ reaction was a smart way of…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One of humanity's most basic instincts is that of revenge. Revenge is one of the defining traits…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays