Halloween Hits Hamlet!

In Zeffirelli's take on Hamlet, actor Mel Gibson portrays a frantic and vengeful protagonist. Hamlet was extremely grief stricken from his father’s death and was not comfortable with his mothers quick remarriage to his uncle. With that being said, Hamlet’s mood throughout the scene was irrational. The ghost however, talked in a very informative tone. The lighting in the scene was very dark, it definetly took a way from the importance of the scene because I could barely see the ghost’s facial expressions. However, I think Zeffirelli used this type of lighting to emphasize how deep the scene truly was. Near the end of the scene, Hamlet’s anger builds up and he becomes very distraught. His prop, a sword is what he uses to release his anger. During a monologue, he swings it back and forth and stabs it in rocks as he watches his mother and uncle display their affection. I believe that this is symbolism and foreshadows something tragic that will occur in the future.

Branagh’s version of Hamlet was the most dramatic out of the three. 

Surprisingly, Branagh did not use Hamlet as a major contributor to the scene. Majority of the excitement came from the special effects and the ghost of Hamlet. As Prince Hamlet ran through the woods to find his fathers ghost, he anxiously shared his thoughts (that was most of his words throughout the scene). On the other hand, the ghost of King Hamlet had A LOT to say. He spoke in an eerie type of whisper as he told Hamlet about how he died. The lighting was perfect, there was a bluish type of tint the complemented the special effects really well. The flashback of King Hamlet being poisoned provided a graphic visual of his death. It also showed a quick glimpse of how Claudius felt after he murdered his brother; guilt.

Almeryda’s version differed from the other two in many ways. This scene was really bright and I felt like I could believe this one more. The ghost looked like an average man and the setting was in a messy NY apartment. The director added many delicate things to the scene that added to the climax.  The ghost kept wiping his ear because that's where Claudius placed the poison. The ghost was very touchy feely, consistently pushing Hamlet into the wall. The ghost also hugged Hamlet at the end of the scene (making the scene more realistic). Hamlet's fear played a big part in this. Since he was being pushed and shoved he had this look of fright in his eyes. You weren’t able to tell if he was going to act on what his father told him to do or if he was just going to continuing mourning his fathers death.

In conclusion I believe these effects made each of the versions unique. I disagree with some of the decisions made by the directors but it is kind of hard to say because i did not watch the whole movie.