Ophelia's Eulogy

Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, has recently died. She had fallen from a tree and drowned. Poor Ophelia had gone crazy with grief due to the loss of her father. However, she should not have received a Christian burial. Not only did she kill herself, but she was one of the people that did manipulate Hamlet. Although she did not directly cause his death, she did help Claudius. Bringing back Hamlet's belongings while Polonius and Claudius spy on him, resulted in the idea of sending him back to England. Sending Hamlet to England resulted in the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This also fueled Hamlet's decision even more to kill Claudius. Although Ophelia may have been a nice girl, she does not deserve a Christian burial.  Ophelia caused a lot of destruction that cannot be forgiven. However, Ophelia does deserve to be remembered as a wonderful person. Although she did make some mistakes which prevent her from receiving a Christian burial, she still was a person who has passed. 

Hamlet's Dilemma

I believe that Hamlet should not kill Claudius. People already believe that he is crazy so by killing Claudius, Hamlet will be sent to England by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The only way to avoid this situation for sure would be if Hamlet killed them. However, the more people Hamlet kills, the crazier will think he is. If Claudius dies, Hamlet takes over the position as king. If the people find out how many people Hamlet has killed, they may worry about the mental state of their king, which could in turn cause a rebellion. If a rebellion occurs, it gives Fortinbras an opportunity to move in and regain lost land.

From a moral and religious view, Hamlet should not kill him. It is immoral to murder another human being, especially as revenge. He would also be hurting Gertrude, after already hurting Ophelia and driving her into madness due to him killing her father. Religiously, Hamlet's dilemma is extremely hypocritical. He believes that Claudius will be sent to hell, as long as he's not praying, for killing his father. Hamlet himself fears death, but is certain he knows whether Claudius is going to hell or not. He would also be sending himself to hell as well, for murdering Polonius and Claudius. Claudius would be going to hell, even if he wasn't murdered, because he is not truly sorry for murdering his brother. Hamlet should just let karma deal with Claudius, and not make his own situation worse than it is.

The longer Hamlet waits to murder Claudius, the harder it would be; Claudius is getting more and more paranoid as the play goes on. He is starting to realize that Hamlet knows the truth about his father's death. Claudius is not going to want to be alone around Hamlet and will have people watching him. Especially with Laertes in the picture now, who is trying to murder Hamlet, Hamlet's chances of murdering Claudius are getting slimmer and slimmer.

To Be or Not To Be

The "to be or not to be" scene is an important and well known piece. Each movie interpreted the scene differently, but kept had the general idea of despair and indecisiveness. Olivier's version was a bit too overdramatic to me, which did kind of take away from the meaning of the soliloquy. However, sitting on the edge of the bridge then walking away showed how close Hamlet was to killing himself yet could not go through with it. The storm represented the dark times going on in his life. Zeffirelli's version was more serious to me. In this version, Hamlet was completely surrounded by death, walking through the catacomb. Hamlet seems empty of emotion and completely in despair, but cannot go through with his idea. Branagh's version shows how Hamlet is struggling internally with this decision by arguing with his reflection in the mirror. Hamlet seems to be cynical in this version, smiling at the thought of death, making Hamlet truly seem crazy. 

Although Almereyda's version does not follow to setting of the book at all, it does hold a lot of symbolism. Hamlet is walking through the "action" movie section, which shows the irony of him not taking action by overthinking. Once Hamlet gets to the TV screen, there are explosions and fire going on. This could be his interpretation of hell, a possibility of what could happen if he were to die. Underneath the TV screen is rows of dvd covers without titles. This represents the unknown, of death, that helps keep Hamlet from killing himself. Both Olivier and Zeffirelli's scenes are dark in background, causing a feeling of despair. It also shows the darkness surrounding Hamlet's life. Branagh and Almereyda use brighter backgrounds and used other symbols to portray the scene. Although Almereyda's scene is the least accurate to the script and is in an almost completely different world, I think it has the strongest symbolism of the four. Almereyda uses the background to explain the emotions going on in a more modern way. I think Branagh's version makes the viewer agree with Polonius, Claudius, and Gertrude's idea that Hamlet is crazy. He is shown as a crazy man, arguing with his reflection and not caring who hears. 

There are so many different versions of the play because it can be interpreted in so many different ways. The fact that Shakespeare is not alive to tell directors how the play was supposed to be done leaves a lot of decisions up to them. There is nobody to tell them how a line is supposed to be said or what emotions the characters are feeling. The directors have a lot of freedom as well since they do not have to work with Shakespeare. I enjoyed Zeffirelli's version the most because it seemed the most realistic to the play. However, I think that the symbolism in Almereyda's gave the viewers more to look at than just where Hamlet was. 

The Ghost Scene

If  I were to interpret this scene through film, it would be a mix of Branagh's and Zeffirelli's interpretations. I think Zeffirelli's scene is less flashy and does not attempt to be scary, like Branagh's version. The quiet, more serious scene, foreshadows the dark event surrounding the ghost's death. However, I think the flashback from Branagh's version, serves as a visual aid to the viewer on the death of the ghost. I would want the ghost to look, ghostly, not humanly, but not like it was a ghost from a scary movie. Almereyda's version appears too lifelike, which takes away from the fact that it is Hamlet's dead father speaking to him. The emotion of the actor would also be a combination of the two scenes. Gibson makes the scene very sad, embracing the emotion of a son who just lost his father. Branagh, however, interprets the scene in a slightly more dramatic way, just as he did the ghost's appearance. He is angered at the murder of his father and wants to seek revenge. I would want Hamlet to be sad when he is first speaking with his father, but then becomes angry when he hears of his fathers murder. I do not like the way Hawke interprets the scene because it is the least emotional of the three. I would want the audience to focus on the murder of Hamlet's father and feel anger towards the uncle. I would also like to focus on the ghost's sadness of seeing his son perhaps for the last time, and the sorrow he feels from being forced to walk the streets. I think the most important parts of the scene are the connection between Hamlet and his father, and the anger surrounding the murder, which will most likely foreshadow future events in the movie. I don't think its very important to have the viewer question Gertrude's role yet, because I feel that conflict will become the focus later on. It is better to leave her role out to keep the mystery surrounding her, and not have the viewer form an opinion on her yet, because she is not the focus at the moment.