Hamlet: Play and Film There

Hamlet: Play And Film

There are many film adaptations of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, the story of a young Danish prince who comes home from abroad to avenge his father's murder. Different film directors have different interpretations of Hamlet, but the film I like best is by Franco Zefferilli (1990) with Mel Gibson and Glen Close. This film shortens or omits scenes from the play but is still mostly faithful to it. The actors playing Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius, etc., are very convincing. I also like the photography, costumes, and music in this film. The film brings the story to life for me more than reading the play. I will compare and contrast the play Hamlet and Zefferilli's film version.

When the play starts, the first scene is Bernardo, Francisco, and Marcellus telling Horatio, who first doubts them, that they have seen Hamlet's father's ghost. Horatio waits with them for the ghost to appear. When it does, Horatio asks it "What art thou, that usurps't this time of night" (46). He tells the ghost, who looks like King Hamlet, to identify himself: "b heaven, I charge thee, speak!" (49). The ghost, offended, leaves. In the film the first shot is Elsinore Castle. Then the camera shows Claudius and Gertrude pretending to mourn the King. Then Horatio tells Hamlet of the ghost, who appears to Hamlet that night. But this time (the play and the film are alike here) the ghost speaks to Hamlet, tells him he was murdered, and asks his son to avenge his death. The scene with the ghost, in both play and film, sets Prince Hamlet on his quest to avenge his father's death. In the play, we can only imagine the ghost. In the film we actually see and hear the ghost as Zeferilli interprets him. The ghost looks and sounds, in the movie, like an old bearded man bathed in bright white light, with a deep but shaky voice.

Soon after, in the play (Act I, Scene 3) we meet Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend who will drown herself in a river when she thinks Hamlet rejects her, and her brother Laertes. Laertes cautions Ophelia about Hamlet (1-53). Ophelia tells Laertes he likes to give advice but not follow it (47-53). This exchange is absent in the film, which shows just a brief exchange between Ophelia and Polonius; Polonius cautions her about Hamlet. The film may skip scenes like this, and others, to tell the story more quickly, and arguably more dramatically. This may also be because films are expensive to make, so every omitted scene saves money. Polonius has more scenes in the play than the film. In the play, he is a key character, second only to Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius. In the film, he almost seems like a minor character.

The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is shown more in the film, possibly because the filmmaker wants to emphasize their romance. In the film, Ophelia and Hamlet are often alone together. In the play they are usually with others: In Act II, again, scenes from the play are shortened or omitted from the film. Scene I of Act II, has an exchange between Polonius and Reynaldo (1-72) then on- between Polonius and Ophelia (74-120). In the film we only see Polonius and Ophelia in this scene. In Act III, Scene 4, where Hamlet kills Polonius, the play scene is longer, with more buildup of tension between mother and son (1-215). In the film the dialogue between Hamlet and Gertrude, before Hamlet kills Claudius, escalates faster, and Claudius's murder is sooner.

One place the movie and play are very similar is the final scene (the duel between Hamlet and Laertes. In the movie, none of the original action or dialogue of this scene are omitted and the time sense is similar to the play.