Sunday, November 3, 2013
To Be or Not to Be
Of the many different performances on the famous Hamlet soliloquy, "To Be or Not to Be," I decided to look at Kenneth Branagh's and David Tennant's different portrayals. In all honesty, both actors did a great job with the soliloquy, but I'll get this out of the way and say I preferred Branagh's more. The most up-front similarity I noticed was really the dead silence beside the speech, which helped the actors accentuate certain parts. Every single 's' consonant was absolutely piercing; it added dramatic effect but I personally didn't like it. Both of the speeches were chilling in their own way.
In Branagh's portayal, I liked the use of the mirror. I thought the mirror itself really represented the first, famous lines of the soliloquy, "To be or not to be-that is the question:" (3.1.64). The mirror, to me, represents two different realities Hamlet can choose, one where Hamlet deals with the situation, and one where Hamlet goes off and ends his life. To me, this really emphasized Hamlet's two-faced insanity, and the horrible reality of the situation. And as the speech goes on, he draws closer and closer until you can finally see just his reflection wielding a sword, which made me think how easy he could have killed himself then and there. I thought Branagh's use of the mirror and sword added depth to an already chilling speech.
Tennant's version was very different emotion wise. While Hamlet looked and felt disdain towards himself in Branagh's version, the Hamlet in Tennant's had a much deeper, more somber expression, especially in his eyes. One think that bothered me was when the actor looked directly into the camera; I think he was trying to be chilling with his eyes but I cringed every time we made eye contact through the screen. I felt this version lacked depth,it was just Hamlet kind of staring off into the distance as he leaned against the wall stationary. It was an impressive speech nonetheless, but I felt like it was still missing something. I didn't feel the madness and insanity that Branagh brought to the table.
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Great job on this blog post Nick. Your insight into the symbols were more than I could have ever gleaned from such a short video clip. I watched two other videos, and I noted many similarities and differences throughout. In one of the clips that I watched, Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet, and I thought that the two soliloquies were very similar in style. The symbol of the sword reminded me of the symbol of the action movies in the clip that I watched. The tension is so great when Hamlet turns away from these symbols, and in a way rejects the incentive to take action.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of Tennant's version. The sense of laziness and how somber he looked lying against the wall turned me off of that rendition. Also, I felt that the speech didn't seem as crazy or insane because he was peacefully sitting alone in a courtyard, where in Branagh's version, he is in the middle of a common room in the palace and anyone could walk in at any moment. This was also apparent in Hawke's version, as that he was in a Blockbuster talking to himself. Great job on this post and thank you for opening some avenues of exploration for me.
Great analysis on these portrayals of this soliloquy Nick! Honestly, I prefer David Tennant's version over Kenneth Branagh's version. I agree that Tennant was much more somber, but I took that as him really battling internally. He is very unsure of himself because he brings to light that he is too weak to take action about Claudius killing his father. I did really enjoy Branagh's version of the soliloquy though. You noting that his annunciation of the 's' in all of his words added dramatic effect really made it stand out to me. Unlike you though, I was pretty into it. It made the soliloquy SO intense to watch. I really enjoy both versions but I do prefer Tennant's. Your analysis and opinion on both versions though are very on point, and I liked reading your post. Great job boss man.
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