Hamlet

In theatre class, we watched different versions of Hamlet. Personally, it is quite interesting that in every version, director has its own understanding of Hamlet. I want to point out two of the Hamlet. One is the Gibson version of Hamlet, another one is Ethan Hawke version of Hamlet. After knowing this story is basically about revenging. The author of Hamlet is William Shakespeare, one of the most famous authors on Earth.

First of all, I want to talk about the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet. In this version, the setting is in the middle ages, and the King Hamlet was killed by Claudius. In the first scene, the director gives an overall situation about the death of King Hamlet by having a funeral. That’s great because we acknowledge her sadness. The director utilizes a darker background in the tomb to give us a sense of frightening and dreadfulness. Moreover, it can also emanate the emotions of the characters, the sadness and melancholy can easily to be discovered by the audiences. Moreover, as Gertrude cries in the first scene, it had a stronger feeling of sadness because, in another version, Gertrude just immediately gets married in the first scene, rather than having a gloomy emotions. In addition, when Hamlet talks the spirit(it’s a real person standing), it happens in the roof of the castle at night, as the guards have seen him before. The guards called Hamlet to see if that’s his father. Yet, King Hamlet calls him to the roof and sits in the corner, with his eyes open, speaking, yet his actions and speech are not aggressive and terrifying, but touching prince Hamlet’s heart. He doesn’t have any movements but sitting and walking toward Hamlet at the end. His father looks really pale here because of his face color and lips color, and also his father’s firm eyes tell Hamlet. Both of them are wearing black robes which emphasize the sadness and darkness of the truth. Furthermore, another thing to include is the speech” To be or not to be”. In this version, Hamlet goes to the tomb of his father(goes to the ground), questioning himself. This may represent he  wants his father’s idea of revenge or death. The choice is on his own hand, but also his father will grasp as well. Moreover, the sun comes from sky, in which further gives us the idea of his decision from his father.

In the other version of Ethan Hawke. The story sets in New York City in 2000. The director changes this play into a modern play. At the first sight, I thought it will not be that good because the setting varied. However, when I saw it, I realize how smart the director is. Changing the empire into a company in New York give us the same idea that his uncle might want to steal his business. Yet, In the first scene, the director didn’t give us a scene of the death tomb or the funeral, but they are in a press conference in which to announce the death of the King Hamlet, and also announcing the marriage. This closely emphasizes the time period differences in which if the play happens early, it would be located in a palace, but in modern time, people would like to declare in front of the press.  Also, there are more lights involved in this play because the time period, and the utilizing of lighting and modern technology, the television, and the computer give us the idea of the technology. The marriage is announced by Claudius and Gertrude, and in this play, Gertrude seems to have a happier beginning rather than crying all the way as the Mel Gibson version. In the press and in the family, she seems cheerful and lovely because she always kisses Claudius and also she always snuggle Claudius in the first scene. Moreover, in 4 mins, it gives the audiences a scene that Hamlet and Ophelia knew each other by their close relationship with the press. I realize that the costume is all black for Hamlet in these two version. Maybe the directors want to give us a sense of dreadfulness and disappointing. Then, I want to talk about when he meets King Hamlet. It’s rather weird that Prince Hamlet gets the phone call from safety guard, warning him that his father appears in the elevator. And while he is sleeping, he sees his father from the balcony. When he opens his eyes, his father appears suddenly.  There is one thing that I notice, there are a lot of movements occur in this version. King Hamlet at first comes to Prince Hamlet, touching his hair, and face. His actions are more aggressive and terrifying because King Hamlet is the one who forces Prince Hamlet goes to the corner and touching his hair. In the end, the King Hamlet also hugs Prince Hamlet to magnify the modern relationship between fathers and sons. Maybe because it’s modern time version people tend to have a lot of interactions with each other. Although it’s from Shakespeare time, the director uses ways to emphasize the modernization. Furthermore, in this version, when he does the “To be or not to be”, he is in a CVS store, which connects to the reality. The actor wanders around in the store with “To be or not to be” in his mind, wondering should he kill himself or not. However, the director uses all the signs of “Actions” to foreshadowing he is going to revenge. Not only foreshadowing his revenge ideas but also he already had revenge on his mind. On the one side, he chooses to avenge for his father at the end, but the actions signs give him ‘courages’ to do so. Moreover, when he comes to the brightest point, it focuses on the television screen, which is an action movie about killing somebody with guns, and this foreshadows that he might be going to do that as well.

I also looked at others as well, realizing the interpretation of each of the directors. This is a great opportunity to look at all the directors’ interpretations.