“To be,
or not to be, that is the question.” (3.1.57) Essentially saying to live or to
die. Hamlet wants to die? Why? What must be so awful?
“Whether
'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer the Slings and Arrows of
outrageous Fortune, or to take Arms
against a Sea of troubles, and by
opposing end them: to die, to sleep no more; and by a sleep, to say we end the Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
that Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
devoutly to be wished.” (3.1.58-65) He’s basically
debating whether it is better to go through and face the things the world
throws at him or just give up, and kill himself which is what he really wants
to do, but what about the afterlife, if he does he will go to Hell, would that
be better than life here?
No the
moral consequence is too great. Killing himself would be a sin, and he does not
want to go to hell afterwards.
His soliloquy
became so moving and popular that other people started redoing it! Kenneth
Branagh’s was the first I saw. He said it in a room of mirrors, so everywhere
he turned he saw himself. Staring at himself in the mirror he fought externally
with himself in the mirror on whether or not to end it all. he pulls out a
knife, ready to end it all right then, the camera zooming in the whole time, leading
up to a final resolution as I walk in, almost interrupting him, breaking his
concentration.
Laurence Olivier
performed the next one I saw. He was high on a cliff, up many many stairs, he
sits up there, it switches between internal thought, where a voiceover tells us
what he’s thinking, and where he himself speaks aloud. He too drew a dagger upon
himself, but then dropped it off the cliff before walking back down the steps. This
one I liked he least, it seemed very boring and emotionless. It didn’t seem
like he was as conflicted as the soliloquy really is.
A catacomb
was the setting for Mel Gibson’s performance. Which I thought was a very
interesting choice. Since he is in fact contemplating life and death. He walks
around the catacomb the whole time, and in the end walks up the steps.
My favorite
was Ethan Hawke’s. It's modern, and placed in a movie store where he walks down
the action isle. Over and over again. As he walks a voice over delivers the soliloquy.
I like it because he looks miserable. He looks like he would rather die than be
there in that situation. So it fits.
Dear Ophelia,
ReplyDeleteAs former lover of this particularly peculiar being who has recently morphed as a character and person, I can say that yes, with his mind he is most definitely contemplating life and death just as you said. Although I do not think that is who he is by nature as when the world spun on its right axis and everything was just fine Hamlet “made many tenders of his affection to me” (1.3.108-109). Also, he remained religious and loyal, as he “hath given countenance to his speech…with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1.3.122-123). He is most definitely a changed man you can say that, at the least—especially when he goes around making statements to himself about deciding whether to die or not. I do agree with you in that he was a very keen about choosing whether to live or to die meticulously for the cost of dying and going to hell. In this was he is not a changed man, he has always been a thought ahead of the next person. For instance his sharp eye in sensing the wrongdoing done by his own uncle…”The dram of evil doth all noble substance of doubt to his own scandal” (1.4.39-41).
Love,
Yourself In Another Dimension