Thursday, May 6, 2010

Polonius' Thoughts on Hamlet

Thou art the one who has gone quickly mad.
Thou art the downfall of thine self and her.
Thine eyes cannot foretell the truth of now.
You hath to see the light of day and truth.
Thou father is perished and will not return.
I shall not stand while you ruin the throne.
Thou hast to defeat th's spirit of rebellion.
Thou insults destroy thine reputation.
Thine mind is lost as Aeneas to his homeland.
Thou must regain your sanity at once.
My Lord Hamlet is not lordly at all.
Not even Athena can understand you.
My dearest lord must at once relax himself.
Thou must live and laugh and learn to love.
I hope that young Hamlet will change his ways
But, a leopard has never changed his spots.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Branagh's the Best

My favorite film version of Hamlet is by Ken Branagh. Branagh's version was more dramatic and it is the play verbatim. I believe that Shakespeare would want his plays acted out the way they were written and Branagh's version of Hamlet is as close as you will get to the play. It starts how the play starts with the ghost scene and it does not show the ghost's face which makes it difficult to determine if the ghost is actually King Hamlet. Branagh's version depicts Hamlet wearing black which displays his sorrow in everyone's joy. The mood and setting of the hall changes as Hamlet gets ready to deliver his first soliloquy. The hall goes from bright to dull within a matter of seconds. Hamlet delivers his soliloquy with great anger and hostility. He says the famous line "frailty thy name is woman" with agony. Branagh added dynamics and stress to Hamlet's voice every time he mentioned his mother's disloyalty to his father.