HAMLET

HAMLET

1. BRANNAGH

   • THEME STATEMENT
     • In the play Hamlet by Shakespeare, the author tries to demonstrate the revengeful nature of every being which one surfaces when he/she faces difficult circumstances.The author strongly argues that when a person experiences something tragic, he/she tends to seek revenge in order to find peace within themselves. This is also portrayed in the Branagh film version which was released in 1993; where the director demonstrates this point by using characters, setting and theme.
       • CHARACTER
         • Laertes
           • His character appears to be obedient and ambitious as shown in the film and the play. Wants to take revenge because his father was murdered by hamlet
             • “How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand, That both the worlds I give to negligence, Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged Most thoroughly for my father.” (4.5.148-154)
           • Determined. Livid.
         • Ghost of king
           • The Ghost was frightening and angry.The figure wants Hamlet to seek revenge for his murder so that his soul can finally find peace
           • Wise. Disturbed. Furious. (His armor symbolizes his anger. Wants revenge. Is ready to start a war)
             • “I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night And for the day confined to fast in fires Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood.” (1.5.14-28)
         • Hamlet
           • Wishes to seek revenge from his uncle who murdered his father
             • Hamlet’s character was well played by Branagh. He successfully pretended the characteristics and traits found within Hamlet’s character.
             • “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, A stallion!” (2.2.611-616)
           • Procrastinator (B/c he doesn’t take action until the end of the play. Meanwhile he gives himself a hard time because he’s well aware of his laziness. (Not just laziness, but his “unsureness,” dullness and “unmanly side” according to him
           • Revengeful (Because he wants to take revenge for his father’s unnatural death
           • Ambitious
             • “I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in.”
         • Fortinbras
           • Although he only appeared once, the actor playing Fortinbras did an amazing job at expressing himself and his feelings just like the play. Wants to take revenge from the state of Denmark, whose King killed his father and took their land.
             • “Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes For food and diet to some enterprise That hath a stomach in 't; which is no other (As it doth well appear unto our state) But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost” (1.1.107-116)
           • Angry. Revengeful. Loyal to his father and land which is why he wants to seek revenge
           • Fortinbras is the reason why the state of Denmark is alert and has guards to secure the palace
       • THEME
         • Revenge
           • The main theme of the play which is shown in the movie. Every character is seeking revenge, in one way or another whether it’s for the good or the bad. They are willing to do all that is possible in order to seek that revenge
             • “And let me speak to th' yet-unknowing world How these things came about. So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall'n on th' inventors' heads. All this can I Truly deliver.” -Horatio Act 5. Scene 2.
         • Persuasion.
           • (The ghost of the King persuades Hamlet to seek revenge for him so that he can find eternal peace.)
             • “O horrible, O horrible, most horrible! If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not. Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damnèd incest. But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge To prick and sting her.”(1.5.87-95)
         • Action and inaction & Self Hatred
           • This theme is shown by Hamlet’s character. He’s depressed due to which he initially begins self hating and he is constantly pushing himself to act upon avenging his father’s planned death. This is B/c of Hamlet’s inability to turn his emotions and plans into actions that further aid him in seeking revenge. However, as time passes, Hamlet overcomes his “fear, laziness” and commences to put his plans into action which later enhances the plot in terms of Hamlet’s desire.
             • “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wanned, Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit—and all for nothing! (2.2.577-584)
               • In this quote Hamlet is telling himself to man up and take action.
       • SETTTING
         • Graveyard.
           • Dark and dull
           • Looks like death as described in the play
             • Significant bc Hamlet finds the real meaning of life over there. Before Ophelia’s burial, he has a fight with Leartes over who loved Ophelia. Leartes was already angry at him due to his killing, he wanted to take revenge right then and there but stopped himself. Final destination of all the people on which the revenge was taken. Hamlet, King, Claudius and Leartes’s final place after they were done killing each other
         • Denmark, The Castle
           • The castle and location in the film was shown in contrast with the play. Enormous. Rigid. Secret passageways
             • Ghost of king appeared (told hamlet to take revenge)
             • Use of sword. A symbol which may represent the revenge hungry beasts
             • Chambers play an important role. “Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, will you do this, keep close within your chamber” (4.7. 129-130) A place where propogandas were planned
             • Origin where the concept of revenge started
             • Claudius kills King hamlet
             • Enclosed. Many hidden passages and hiding spots. This is how Polonious dies