Hamlet Comparison Essay Movie vs. Play free essay sample

And the Academy Award for Being Over Dramatic Goes To†¦ Tony Robbins said, â€Å"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others†. Shakespeare’s writing has had many different ways of being presented because people perceive it in different ways. Whether it is a literal representation or a spin, directors like to show viewers the way they perceive the text. In the movie version of Hamlet the director, Kenneth Branagh, wanted the viewers to find Shakespeare interesting and full of action and drama. Kenneth chose the right direction to go in to keep the audience’s attention but it did not show the true tragedy of Hamlet. The story of Hamlet is very depressing because many people are betrayed and die. Hamlet’s own uncle killed his father and married his mother. It is easy to feel sympathy for the characters that had lost people they loved; such as Hamlet and Ophelia but the movie did not show that emotion. The movie was too over the top to really show true emotion. All of the scenes were very dramatic and Hamlet’s character was one that was too overdone. Branagh chose to have Hamlet act extremely crazy but Shakespeare wrote Hamlet’s character as possibly being crazy but the reader does not know for certain. Although Kenneth did make the movie dramatic he did make right choices when showing certain themes such as hatred. He highlighted the hatred that Claudius had toward both Hamlets and he also made it known that Hamlet hated Claudius even though in the play it was not that apparent. Who is the man that lost his father? Is he a lost little puppy or is he a violent lion? In the play, Hamlet was a young man who was weak because he had been betrayed but the movie did not show that he was hurting and weak. The movie depicted his character as being arrogant. In the play Hamlet was depressed and hurting and he could not really function. In Act l Scene II Hamlet was degraded by Claudius. Claudius was telling Hamlet to stop grieving over his father and consider him as his new father. Claudius called Hamlet a girl by saying, â€Å"tis unmanly grief†. (pg. 18). Shakespeare made the women in Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude, seem very frail  and powerless and by having Claudius tell Hamlet that he was unmanly shows that Hamlet was acting like the women in the play. Hamlet was so weak that he would even let his mother who betrayed him keep him from continuing his studies in England. He told her, â€Å"I shall in all my best obey you, madam†. (pg. 18). Hamlet should not have listened to the woman who had hurt him even though she was his mother. Hamlet’s family had put him through so much pain. He was the first â€Å"emo† kid. He was very suicidal crying out,† Or that his Everlasting had not fix’d his canon â€Å"gainst self-slaughter†. (pg.  19) He was saying that if God did not see suicide as a sin he would kill himself. This proves that he was very depressed and nothing helped him ease the pain. It was very apparent in the play that Hamlet was unhappy but the movie did not depict him that way. In the film, he was very aggressive and outspoken. In the breakup scene Hamlet was very abusive towards Ophelia. He grabbed her and dragged her around. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet as being more hurt than angry during this scene but clearly the movie showed him as being angrier. A scene where he was being very outspoken was the scene where he put on the play. Shakespeare wrote the play scene as being very personal with only a few viewers but in the movie it was a full auditorium. This was perfect for how Hamlet acted during this scene because he made a big scene by running to the stage and pointing and shouting at Claudius. Hamlet wanted people to make the connection between the plot of the play with reality but in the play he was too scared to actually tell anyone about how his father really died. This is one scene that was actually better shown in the movie than in the play. Hamlet’s father wanted Hamlet to expose Claudius and get revenge. Kenneth Branagh made it seem like Hamlet was following his father’s orders even though in the play he wasn’t. This made the audience feel better about Hamlet because he was actually taking action. Although Kenneth’s version of Hamlet’s character took action it is not as tragic as Hamlet’s character in the play because by Hamlet not taking action it shows how sensitive and hurt he was. Hamlet’s father died a tragic death. Shakespeare never clearly states the atmosphere and setting of where Claudius poisoned his brother but Branagh chose a clever way to show it. The scene started off outside of the castle on a snowy day. King Hamlet was taking a nap in a chair when Claudius snuck up behind him. Claudius poured poison in the ear of the king and that is when Hamlet awoke from his sleep and started choking. He looked his brother in the eye and died. Kenneth really made it apparent how evil Claudius is. He watched his own brother die and he felt nothing. He made Claudius act the same way as Shakespeare wrote his character to be. Shakespeare had chosen to have Claudius tell the people of Denmark that Hamlet had been killed by a snake. The snake is a perfect symbol of Claudius. Ever since the beginning of time snakes have been viewed as evil because of the story of Adam and Eve. G-d told Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. While Adam was elsewhere a snake, the devil, came to Eve. He used his sly ways to convince Eve to eat the fruit and that is the reason she was banished from the Garden of Eden. Kenneth took the symbol of a snake one step further by making the scene take place on a snowy day. The snow was a symbol of Hamlet’s pure soul and the snake came up and took his soul. Claudius was truly evil and the act of being evil was what drove Hamlet. If Claudius was not an evil man Hamlet would have still been alive and the story of Hamlet would have never been written. The play of Hamlet depicted King Hamlet as being a soft, kind king but he was not shown that way in the movie when he came back as a ghost. It was a dark night when the ghost of Hamlet first interacted with his son. The ghost led Hamlet into a forest where he began to be very forceful with him. He was so scary that he even frightened his own son. The earth started shaking and the ghost started yelling. Kenneth chose a very stereotypical way to depict a ghost but in the play Shakespeare did not. Shakespeare wrote the king as only trying to tell Hamlet what happened and try to get his son to act on it. The play shows tragedy because it makes the ghost seem like he is the victim but in the movie all that is shown is hatred. The ghost does not seem to care about how his son is feeling in the movie, he only wants revenge on his brother. Can love really make a person crazy? Based off of Ophelia the answer would be yes. Ophelia had been put through so much. Men tried to control her every move. Her father and her brother told her to stay away from Hamlet even though she loved him dearly. They even used her to try to find out information about why Hamlet was going mad. Ophelia was probably overwhelmed with everything especially when the man she loved killed her father. After Hamlet killed Polonius in the movie, Ophelia turned into a crazy lady. The director even chose to have her in a straight jacket which is the definition of crazy. Now on the other hand the play does not directly show that Ophelia has gone mad. Depressed, yes but not mad. She said, â€Å"We must be patient. But I cannot choose but weep†. (pg. 104). So when she dies there is a question of whether she killed herself or if she just fell into the brook on accident. The movie and the play help answer this question differently. Since she seems depressed in the play she probably killed herself because that is what extremely depressed people do. A crazy person would not really think to kill themselves it would be more of the person that hates their life. The crazy Ophelia is more interesting but for the bigger picture a depressed Ophelia is the way to go because it truly is tragic. To even think that someone would kill themself over the two men that they loved is heartbreaking and a person committing suicide is more tragic than falling into a stream and drowning. No matter which way Ophelia actually died she died a martyr for female oppression. She had never truly been able to stand up for herself and when she died she made a crown of flowers. This symbolizes the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he was crucified at the cross. Although Shakespeare had shown women as being weak in Hamlet, this symbol gives women hope because Jesus is a person who is remembered and worshiped. Hamlet is another character who seems more insane in the movie than in the play. In the play Shakespeare makes it known that Hamlet is going to act crazy. Right after Hamlet decided he was going to act crazy he went to Ophelia’s house. He grabbed her and touched her face and then he left. When he does this the reader knows that he is only pretending to be crazy. In the movie during the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius Hamlet is definitely being depicted as actually being insane. He stabs the curtain that Polonius was behind multiple times. Even when he finds out that it was Polonius and not Claudius he felt no sympathy. Kenneth made the theme of hatred very clear in this scene. Hamlet loved Ophelia but he was so angry that he did not let killing her father bother him. The question that comes up is whether or not Hamlet would have killed Polonius if he would have known the effect it would have on Ophelia. Both the play and the movie show that Hamlet probably would have not done this because he tries to prove his love for her. During act 5 scene 2 Hamlet discovers what had happened to Ophelia. He was at the grave that the gravedigger was digging up. Laertes revealed that it is Ophelia’s grave and Hamlet was in shock. Hamlet and Laertes started arguing over who loved her more. Hamlet says, â€Å"I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum†. (pg. 127). Shakespeare has a way with words especially when it comes to romance. The way that Hamlet spoke about his love for Ophelia is so heartbreaking. This is truly tragic because he had no control over Claudius killing his father but he was the one who was to blame for the woman he loved death. Fighting scenes in movies are expected to be packed with action and suspense. That is exactly what the director gave viewers of Hamlet. During the fencing scene Hamlet and Laertes were very dramatic. They made big movements and moved all about the castle. This scene in the play was written as if it was a small fencing match in a courtyard not in a huge castle with many spectators. Since this scene was very dramatic it made the viewer want to know what was going to happen next and there were many more exciting things to come. For one when Gertrude drank the poison it was a slow death but in the play all Gertrude said was, â€Å"No, no! The drink, the drink! -O my dear Hamlet! -The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. † and the she died. (pg. 140) Hamlet, Laertes, and Claudius died a slow death in the movie as well. Hamlet first kills Laertes by cutting him with the poisoned sword. It stops there in the play but in the movie Hamlet then pushes Laertes over the banister. This shows how much Hamlet hated Laertes for trying to kill him and siding with Claudius. The way that Laertes died in the play is more tragic though because Laertes died only because of the poison. This is tragic because Laertes basically killed himself. If he had not plotted against Hamlet he would have still been alive. In the movie and the play Claudius got what he deserved but the movie expanded on his death to show that Hamlet was no joke and that even though it took him ages to get revenge he finally did. Hamlet threw the sword straight through Claudius’ chest and pinned him to the throne. He then proceeds to push a chandelier on the Claudius. In the play that Hamlet made Claudius drink the poison after he stabbed him. The play made it seem as if he was simply going to hand it to him but in the movie he forces it down his throat. The director choosing to make the scene this way it kept the viewers’ attention but since all of the characters that died in the fencing scene died dramatically it takes the tragedy out of it. A more realistic death would be more tragic because the viewer could imagine that happening in real life. Mel Brooks said, â€Å"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die. † The play of Hamlet shows true tragedy because it has a depth of emotion. There is love, hate, sadness, etc. The events that happen are shown in a way that moves readers. Characters are shown as being affected in a negative way. This is true for the movie as well but the affect that the characters have in the play have a deeper meaning. The play shows how hurtful people can be and how that harms innocent people. The more depressed a character is the more tragic because depression is something that readers can relate to. Even if a person isn’t clinically depressed everybody has had that low in their life that brought them down. Whether it was when they were five and their pet fish died or when they were fifty and their mother died people have had tragedies happen to them. The movie took the issue of death and emphasized the hatred that went along with it. Kenneth chose to have the characters be over the top, aggressive, and crazy. This is something that probably never happens that much in real life. Going back to the quote, a small pain can cause a big tragedy but when that pain is over dramatized it just becomes ridiculous. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Print. Branagh, Kenneth, dir. Hamlet. Prod. William Shakespeare. Film. 15 Mar 2013.