Hamlet

According to Webster's (2001), the word adaptation in the artistic sense of the word equates to "A written work that has been recast in a new form." According to this definition, both Michael Almereyda's film Hamlet and Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead represent an adaptation. In the strictest sense, Almereyda's screen adaptation more closely follows the above definition than Stoppard's play. This is because Almereyda's film recast Shakespeare's Hamlet in a new form, while Stoppard's work takes two characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and expands on and develops their characters using original dialogue and pieces from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Thus, formally speaking, Almereyda's work is more consistent with adaptation than Stoppard's.

Almereyda's Hamlet drastically cuts a great deal of dialogue and scenes from Shakespeare's original, and, alas, poor Yorik does not make the cut. However, Almereyda uses creativity and imagination by changing the setting to modern day corporate New York. Hamlet, played by Ethan Hawke, is a student film maker and the son of the CEO of Denmark Corporation. His father is murdered by his younger brother, Claudius, who becomes the new CEO of Denmark Corporation. The film does an excellent job of transplanting Shakespeare's original into contemporary society, but at certain points it goes too far. It is difficult to watch and nearly makes one wince to hear "To be or not to be" fr

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