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To Be Shakespeare, Or Not To Be Shakespeare, That Is The Question

To Be Shakespeare, Or Not To Be Shakespeare, That Is The Question


Kenneth Branaugh may have had the script of William Shakespeare's Hamlet
spoken down to every last thee and thou, but one must remember that this is
Hamlet through Branaugh's eyes, not Shakespeare's. Therefore, dismissing
obvious additions made for adapting the play to film, such as having a real
castle instead of a stage, it is possible to observe the unique characters,
interpretations, actions, and setting that make this version the director's own.
In the time of Shakespeare, one of the actors main challenges was to use
the words to paint the scene for the audience, since, for the most part, they
were looking at a bare stage. However, this use of imagination and portrayal is
no longer needed when the script is brought to film. Every pearl and snowflake
have been placed strategically before the audience, so that there is no need to
listen to the language to create your own vision of Hamlet's world. Branaugh's
world is full of lavish affairs, freezing winters, and halls of mirrors. The
use of the camera has some definite advantages and disadvantages. First, since
the characters are no longer limited by a defined space, they are able to
deliver their long speeches while being in a constant state of motion. This
occurs in the scene with the guards, and most noticeably in the scene with
Laertes and Ophelia, before he leaves for France. This same scene demonstrates
how the camera enables the characters to switch from one setting to the next, as
when Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius are taken from outside to the church. This,
in turn, helps Branaugh set the scene for Ophelia and Polonius, in which,
Ophelia confesses everything to her father, perhaps only because she is in a
confession booth. Filming also allows for clarification of what is being said
through silent plays. During characters' dialogue, the scene switches to
actions of the past, present, and even to things that could happen....