Intro Paragraph: Seems

"'Seems', madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.'" (1.2.76). In Shakespeare's Hamlet, during Act 1 Scene 2, Hamlet's mother questions why Hamlet is so distressed and depressed from his father's death, when in actuality, death is common. The prince's response can be viewed differently; In films, Kenneth Branagh, BBC, and Mel Gibson portray Hamlet's various reactions through tone, impulsive visual reaction, and ????. In Branagh's, Hamlet emphasizes the word "seems", and using a soft voice, illustrates his anger and sadness. In BBC's, the word seems to agitate him, it also marks a transition from a sarcastic, detached attitude into one where it is obvious that he takes offense. In Gibson's, however, Hamlet responds sadly and softly; he is clearly hurt and in pain. Hamlet's response to his mother's cold-hearted question is interpreted differently in various films; these assorted reactions respectively imply not only Hamlet's feelings at the time, but also his feelings about his mother (and the king??).

BBC Film

-King sits and Hamlet stands (queen sits next to king)

-Hamlet doesn’t look, and when he responds to the king he is sarcastic (he kind of looks more away)

-Ham kind of rolls his eyes when the queen talks

-Ham is a little mad at his mom, SEEMS, and then he looks right at her and walks towards her

-The crowd this time is surrounding them, instead of being behind/to the side

-When the king talks, Hamlet sits and looks away (when Ham is called unmanly he laughs) this Hamlet is very sarcastic and sassy

--The king stands up and looks around and then back at Ham to continue talking

-The king gives one touch/hand on ham’s shoulder (untenderly). The queen then stands up and puts her hand on his shoulder (gesture is just for show, or the hands are pushing hamlet down) (he is sitting and they’re standing so that can be it)

            -The king is kind of also pushing hamlet’s head down, almost pushing him further into depression

            -Hamlet gets up and moves away

            -The queen touches the king much more lovingly

-The queen begs Ham to stay and ham does a sarcastic bow and says he will do his best

            -The king says that it must be so nice that he did that, so kind

-The king and queen are kind of touching each other a bit

-Queen exists giving the king a kiss (not Hamlet)

-Hamlet alone walks up and stands in front of the chairs to speak himself

Mel Gibson

-King walks in on Hamlet sitting

            -The king then sits and makes himself comfortable

-Hamlet then stands

-The king looks down even though he is sitting and tells ham that fathers always die; then he stands up and walks around; the king is disconnected

-The king is shorter than hamlet, but he still tries to talk down to him

            -the king touches Hamlet but like doesn’t even really care, it’s arbitrary

-KING EXITS

            -Then the queen lovingly goes and hugs him kind of and puts her hand on him; her voice is very low and intimate, she also looks right up into Hamlet’s eyes

            -He doesn’t really look at her though

            -She is leaning on him, putting her head on him, whispering saying he needs to stay

            -This doesn’t seem like an argument (the book made it seem like that), she is genuinely trying to get him to stay (dependent)

-They finally make contact, and his voice goes low; close in on them (the whole scene)

            -Ham then leaves her and goes to pack stuff up; at the line SEEMS, it is showing JUST hamlet, he sounds offended and takes his stuff and leaves; he stops kind of and she comes up and hugs him from behind kind of, she pleads him to stay

-When Ham says he will try to obey her, she is happy

-She kisses him like 3 times all across the face; after the lips, she looks away and then kisses the lips again

-When the queen leaves, it shows her running and being happy

-Then, Hamlet is depressed and looking away when soliliquiying

David Tennant

-Hamlet is in a suit - perhaps for seriousness

            -He responds to his mom hostily. Short, sharp staements

            -Queen and Hamlet are in different shots, not together; Hamlet usually alone in a shot, and everyone else kind of in other shots

            -Hamlet seems quite angry

-The room is almost entirely black - the evil

-King is very calm/nice

            -When he says unmanly, he is a bit harsh and looks him in the eyes

            -King says to hamlet he’s next in line for the crown, and looks around at everyone when he says it

            -Clapping after kings speech

            -Claudius didn’t even know ‘whittenburg’, he had to ask the queen - he doesn't care

            -Touching queen a lot, unifying them

-The queen approaches Hamlet and grabs his collar, almost flirty; she leans in towards his face, flirty

-Showing everyone exit through the security camera

            -Back to regular camera for soliloquy; not close up on hamlet like before, it’s showing him with the room; the throne behind him; back turned to the camera, kneeling down; his back is turned and he’s kneeling, but he is facing the throne (unintentionally for him); contrast because he’s wearing a suit

-He starts looking at the camera-ish when he gets into his soliloquy, (speaking to camera?); eventually he even starts at some point to even stare at the camera

Laurence Olivier (1948)

-Queen when first talking to Hamlet, she is somewhat creepy. She moves behind Hamlet to talk to him. She puts his arms around him a bit, and he looks up at her like he is a baby looking at his mother. The mother-son relationship is very warm/kind. Even when behind him, she is always looking at him; they look into each others eyes often (unless he looks away)

-The king is always talking loud also

-She cups her hands around his face

-When the queen and Hamlet start talking warmly and the camera goes in on them, the king is maybe insecure and starts talking to draw attention, he stands and walks around looking at the crowd and calling Hamlet unmanly (not looking at Hamlet, not even talking TO hamlet, but instead to the audience)

-King taps his heart to pretend to be sincere when talking to Hamlet, but he isn’t actually sincere

-Hamlet is always looking down, he’s all depressed

-The king is looking right at Hamlet standing over him, speaking fast and acting hostile (looking straight at Hamlet)

-Hamlet doesn’t look at the king, but the queen steps between the king and hamlet and they look at each other

-when the queen kissing hamlet goodbye, they kiss for quite a while (oedipul complex)

-End of scene, Hamlet sits alone by himself

-King standing facing sitting hamlet. Hamlet is sitting somewhat relaxed, slouching. The queen walks out in front of her son

Act 1, Scene 2

In class we are watching different directors productions of Hamlet; specifically Act 1, Scene 2. Although we have only so far been able to interpret our reading, the audio, and one or two films, it is clear that the Shakespeare's tragic story can be interpreted and presented in many different ways. It seems that when reading the play, I thought Hamlet was alone with his parents talking to them, I didn't realize that there was an audience. This also could not be shown in the audio; however, in the audio I was able to read the BBC's version of the characters' tones. Watching the first video really opened up to my eyes of what the scene really could look like. It showed me how when the king was talking 'to' Hamlet, he was not only portraying a point to Hamlet, but also to the audience. Also, on the film, I can see that the director placed the king and queen next to each other to form unity between them, and uniting them against Hamlet. This is something I somewhat imagined while reading, but seeing it is much more powerful in that I can see the unity and power between the king and the queen. I am really looking forward to seeing what the other films have to offer.

"Go, bid the soldiers shoot." -Fortinbras

This is the last line of the play. Shakespeare gave the last line of the play to Fortinbras, the nephew of the king of Norway whom Hamlet senior won land from. Why did Shakespeare give the last line to this guy instead of Horatio?
I think that Shakespeare gave the last line of the play to Fortinbras (more importantly not a Dane) to make clear that the Danish government collapsed.
However, I think that Horatio deserved the last line of this play because not only is he the last main character alive, but he also witnessed the slaughter and therefore Shakespeare could have shed some sort of 'Horastic' light on this. Horatio's last lines are about how he is going to tell everyone what happened so they maybe do not go as crazy as they would have without knowing. But, this does not give the reader any perspective whatsoever on Horatio's opinion.
Shakespeare, therefore, seems to be emphasizing power and control of a group over an individuals personal thoughts.

WorkOn2

-Improve the clarity of flow in my introduction
-Make sure that my thesis is clear enough to express a specific argument
-Check spelling and grammar carefully
-Don't quote too long or too short

"I ain't sayin' she's a gravedigger..."

Although the Gravedigger is the lowest in social class in the play, he is the character who is least stressed. Being a prince, or for that matter a king, is not so great in this play. Prince Hamlet lives a suicidal life with a purpose of getting revenge on his murderous uncle. Hamlet senior, as ex-king, gets brutally murdered by his own brother. Claudius, the next king, gets stabbed with a poisoned rapier. The queen accidentally drinks poison. The Gravedigger buries dead bodies; however, he sings merrily while doing so and seems to be the happiest person in the play. I find this interesting because in a conventional society one would assume that those of a higher class live a less stressed life. Perhaps Shakespeare is making a statement about how one does not need to be wealthy or 'important' to be happy; and furthermore, those who are wealthy or 'important' are not guaranteed easy lives.

Who is Hamlet? -Horatio

Horatio is Hamlet's best friend, but does Horatio approve of Hamlet's choices? In my opinion, Horatio seems to be a very passive character; he does not strongly express opinions, and appears to follow Hamlet. For instance, when Hamlet planned the play to uncover Claudius, Horatio agreed and did what he was told. This does not necessarily mean that Horatio agrees, however. Although there is not much evidence to prove it, I think that Horatio does care about Hamlet but does not agree with his choices; however, sometimes Horatio's love for Hamlet interferes with his reasoning. I think Horatio doesn't step in and tell Hamlet not to do something because of Horatio's personality. At the end of the day, Horatio may not approve, but he doesn't have it in him to stand up to Hamlet. Horatio still loves Hamlet and Hamlet loves Horatio, which can probably best be exemplified through Hamlet preventing Horatio from committing suicide.

What would Hamlet think? (Part II)

Is Prince Hamlet happy that he is dead?

He might not be happy because of the deaths that arose from his quest for vengeance. The sacrifice for Hamlet's death and his taking Claudius down with him was the deaths of three people he cared about. Firstly, Ophelia dies; although Hamlet was not in love with her, he still liked her enough to care that she lived. Secondly, Laertes dies; Hamlet had absolutely no intention of killing Laertes, and it was a complete accident. Nonetheless, it was a sacrifice he unwillingly made. Thirdly, his mother dies; although he was angry with her, and offended by her hasty marriage, Hamlet had no intention of witnessing his mom unintentionally poisoning herself.
This being said, Hamlet's life goal after speaking with his dead father was to kill Claudius in order to avenge the ex-king. Furthermore, Hamlet wanted to die, as he explains following his famous lines to be or not to be. Even furthermore, what would/did Hamlet have left in his life? If Hamlet were to succeed in slaying Claudius without dying himself, he would still have nothing left to live for. He would have his mother, but she could just marry someone else, or hate Hamlet, or kill herself. Therefore, I think he is happy that he is dead because he has nothing left to live for.

My next question is: What would Hamlet's ideal outcome be?

What would Hamlet think?

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet talks to Hamlet. The ghost of King Hamlet informs his son of how he died. He goes on to tell his son to get revenge by killing Claudius; he also says to leave Gertrude alone: "leave her to heaven" (1.5.93). So, what would the ex-king Hamlet think of the end result of his son's revenge?
Although we do not know much about him, I think that Hamlet would be happy with his son's vengeance. He was trapped as a ghost until Claudius was killed (till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/ Are burnt and purged away (1.5.18-19). Hamlet's son therefore frees him from wandering and suffering as a ghost. The ex-king truly loved Gertrude, but now that he is dead and suffering, I think that he would think that her death does not outweigh his advancement beyond ghostly suffering.