Act 1.2 Hamlet

Act 1:2 Hamlet is alone in the throne room and is upset at his mother for marrying his Uncle Claudius and also being told by both his mother and uncle that he should not grieve after his father anymore. In Hamlet’s soliloquy, we discovered that it has only been two months since his father King Hamlet has died. “But two months dead--nay, not so much, not two” (line 142). “…ere those shoes were old with which she followed my poor father‘s body, like Niobe, all tears…But break. My heart, for I must hold my tongue” (lines 151-164). In these lines, Hamlet is in complete distress over his mother marrying her uncle only a month after his father died. In lines 151-152, Hamlet describes his mother like Niobe; daughter of Tantalus, whose children were killed and was turned to stone where she wept for their loss; as she walked behind her late husband’s body. Hamlet also compares his mother to a beast, saying that a beast would have mourned longer than she has, in lines 154 and 155. He is bewildered by how she could marry her late husband’s brother, who is nothing like King Hamlet. “…My father‘s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules” (lines 157-158). “So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr…” (lines 143-144). Here Hamlet juxtaposes King Hamlet and Claudius, King Hamlet as a sun god and Claudius as a creature who is part human, part horse and part goat. Since Claudius is now king, what is a another crack to Hamlet’s already shattered heart, is that Hamlet cannot say anything against King Claudius and his mother, Queen Gertrude.

Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet

Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Hamlet, captures Hamlet’s anger and distress that is brought on by King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. The anger is shown when he screams “and yet, within a month (let me not think on ‘t; frailty, thy name is woman!)” (lines 154-155). In my opinion, Branagh’s portrayal was too sane. Hamlet is initially alone and he’s talking to himself, he’s expressing how he feels and he is searching through his mind; trying to figure out how his mother could marry his uncle. There was definitely emotion in the portrayal, but the essence of someone who bewildered out of his mind was not there. I liked how Branagh was wearing black, it showed that he was still in mourning of his father King Hamlet. Hamlet wearing black not only showed mourning but it made Hamlet stand out in the set, which was mostly white.

Laurence Olivier as Hamlet

I liked how the soliloquy was voiced over to show that Hamlet was thinking, instead of saying it out loud like Branagh. I think doing that showed how delusional hamlet was. The voice over exaggerated Hamlet’s distress and bewilderedness. Oliver’s use of facial expressions and body languge also showed the amount of emotion in the scene. I did not like how it was in black and white. I think that it had no great effect on the scene, and just showed that when this was made it was in the period when there was no color and that technology was not established yet.

In my opinion, the best interpretation of Hamlet’s soliloquy was by Laurence Olivier. The direction in which the scene was led, emphasized the duress and mental suffering that Hamlet was going through. The voice over by Olivier made it so that, Hamlet was saying everything in his mind, he was talking to himself. Also that, he only said about five words out loud really emphasized that duress that Hamlet was going through.