Blog #7 Hamlet's soliloquy

1) Kenneth Branagh: I enjoyed Branagh's performance. Early in the soliloquy he shows frustration when hinting at the idea of suicide and the torture of living a life with no redeemable qualities. He becomes most enraged when touching on the issue of his mother's marital habits. Depression, frustration, and confusion best describe Branagh's performance.
2) Kevin Kline: Like Branagh, Kline seemed angered most at his mother's marriage to his uncle and her ability to quickly put aside her feelings for Hamlet's father. Kline, for the most part, kept a level tone throughout the soliloquy. Falling to his knees added some drama but the zooming camera angles and background music gave his performance a corny soap opera feel.
3) Tony Richardson: In this adaptation, Nicol Williamson seems to be the most stable Hamlet of all the Hamlet portrayals. He is annoyed but does not show much emotion. The mood that I got from him was that everyone else in the play is crazy for not seeing the bizarreness that is incest in regards to gertrude and Claudius.
4) Mel Gibson: Mel Gibson's portrayal of Hamlet was weak! I expected to see a fiery "William Wallace/ Braveheart" like performance but he left me depressed and let down, much like his depiction of Hamlet.
When reading the soliloquy and Hamlet's thoughts about suicide, his fathers death, and his mother's incest, it is understandable that countless emotions would run through his head. That is why I feel Branagh's performance best illustrated Hamlet. He ranged from frustration to anger to disgust ( basically every adjective listed on blackboard), which is how I view Hamlet- confused and unstable, but sure of why he is angry.