Eulogy

Ophelia was a beautiful, and very respectful women. She brought joy to whoever and where ever she was. Sadly she had gone mad from the death of her father. She started breaking down right after she have found out that Hamlet killed her father. She thought that it was her fault. She put that blame on herself because her father did not permit her to date Hamlet. She believe that it was Hamlet's love for Ophelia that made him crazy and act out in such a way. She then went mad. And now we have lost such a kind hearted soul that had been corrupted by the wrong idea. For it was never her fault in the first place. She has drowned in a lake. I don't believe that it was a suicide but she had so much sorrow and it is a possibility. No one was around her when she drowned and it was a lake. No waves or animals could have forcibly drowned Ophelia. I do feel bad for her. She was a poor lil girl who just was listen to what her father asked her to do. And doing that caused her father's death in her mind. Its just saddening. To misunderstand the situation and then end up dying from it. May she rest in peace.

Hamlet's Dilemma

Hamlet's Dilemma

Hamlet's thought process of not killing Claudius intrigued me. His thoughts of Claudius being forgiven while praying shows that both are them are very religious. In my opinion Hamlet did the right thing not killing Claudius at the moment he had. It is said that God is forgiving and if he killed Claudius while he was praying and saying his sins, Claudius would have gone to heaven. Hamlet wants to kill him while he is sinning, so he will have the same pain that his own brother has felt. Hamlet should wait for the opportunity where Claudius is unjust and committing a sin. Even though as he was praying he committed one of the seven deadly sins. "GREED" Claudius shows greed throughout his speech and still asks God if he can be forgiven, but still keep the goods that he stole. So I believe that even if Hamlet didn't hesitate he would have still suffered the same fate. What goes around comes around. Claudius must have never been told this before.

To be or not to be

Hamlets to be and not to be speech is one of the most known of Shakespeare's work. There are so many different takes on this speech. Oliver's take on the speech was set with Hamlet near the ocean and looking over the ledge. The only sound being the waves crashing and his voice. There was no music. He also does pull out a knife but doesn't use it and at the end throws it over the ledge into the ocean and walks away into the fog.
Branagh's take was taken inside a corridor of the castle. Where hamlet points a knife towards a mirror and gets angrier throughout his speech. There is music in this version and it was very dramatic. It kept going up as he kept getting closer and closer to the mirror.
Zeffirelli's version was set in the tomb where is father and many more are buried. He prays and slowly walks all the way around the tomb talking about death while death is surrounding him. Hamlet was emotional and laid on his father's tomb. Once he was done he left the tomb.
The last version is more modern. It is set in a blockbuster and has action in each isle as he walks by. This symbolizes that he talks but doesn't take action.  He also shows a movie in the background where someone dies. The hamlet also switches from thought to actually talking also.
The one that did it best in my opinion is the more modern version. It had more clues and helped me understand the speech.

Hamlet Ghost Scene

The three different scenes all are unique and are different takes on how the directors portrayed the scene in their own eyes. Zeffirelli's version was more of an ominous meeting between Hamlet and the ghost. There really was no music but an ominous sound while Hamlet(Gibson) was following him up the tower. Gibson was really anxious and nervous as he was talking to the ghost. He also pulled out a sword to his friends that tried to stop him from going to follow the ghost. The ghost wore no armor and was just an old man hidden in the shadows of the tower. After the ghost left Gibson showed rage toward his uncle and scrapped his sword among the castle walls.
Branagh version of the scene had Branagh running through the forest speaking really fast while supposedly chasing the ghost with music playing in the background. As he is running and speaking fire appears from the ground, earthquakes happen and etc. Branagh's version of the ghost had armor light blue eyes and looked pale. Talked as if he were trying to whisper as if he was demonlike and was angry throughout his speech. Branagh also showed more emotion by falling to the ground and crying and getting up when swearing revenge for his father's death. It also showed scenes through the ghost speech. Like when and how the king really died.
Almereyda's take on the ghost scene was the most modern version of all three. Hawke is the heir of the company named Denmark. Hawke lets in the ghost of his dead father into his apartment and is in shock. The ghost shows a lot more emotion and is very touching in the scene. The camera also moves in a 180 type of motion during the ghost speech. The ghost also had a prop which symbolized where he had gotten poisoned. It was a napkin and he kept putting it at his ears to symbolize that it still hurts him.
The one that stuck with me the most was the ghost in the second but the setting in the first. If the ghost wore armor in the first scene I would have thought that to be the ideal version in my opinion. For it is simple and right to the point. If I were to direct this scene that is exactly what I would have done.