The character of Hamlet
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The character of Hamlet in the play of the same name by William Shakespeare has long been a difficult one for critics to assess because he is seen as passive rather than active for most of the play. Early in the play he is charged with the task of avenging his father, a task given him by his father's ghost, and yet for most of the play he does nothing about it. He is highly reflective but inactive until the very end of the play when he does his duty, destroys the man who killed his father, and is himself destroyed. Critics have pondered the question of why he waits so long. In his film version from 1948, Laurence Olivier answers this question in a spoken prologue, stating that this is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind. There is no prologue in the Franco Zeffirelli version from 1991, with Mel Gibson in the title role, and it is less clear why Hamlet hesitates as he does. The two films are very different, though based on the same material. The Olivier version is much truer to the spirit of the play as well as to its theatricality, and some of the changes made in the Zeffirelli version undercut the effect of the piece. The most obvious difference between the two is the overall look of each film and the tone of the direction. Of course, the Olivier version is in black and white and the Zeffirelli version in color, and this is more than a surface difference. The Olivier film is dark, brooding, and truly theatrical, with sets that are suggestive rather
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opening images of the Olivier version.
Olivier creates an image of Denmark as a forbidding place pounded by nature and in turmoil because of the death of a king. Zeffirelli creates an image of Denmark that is not too unlike a vacation in Italy, and indeed the warm colors seem more suited to a southern clime than to the northern country. Indeed, it seems again and again that Zeffirelli may be making changes in both the script and the image of the play to counter Olivier's version, which is a foolish exercise in that it does not serve the play and in that the Olivier version does capture the play so well. The Zeffirelli version is diminished largely by the emendations made in the script and by the directorial choices made by Zeffirelli. Before the film was made, there was much trepidation about the casting of Mel Gibson in the title role, but in fact he gives a good performance--not as rigorous or creative as Olivier, but interesting in its different interpretation. The Olivier film infuses every element with the same sense of darkness and impending death--the music by William Walton begins with stormy music reflecting the state of the state, as it were, and the more lush score offered by Zeffirelli is in keeping with the way
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Approximate Word count = 1725
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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