2. Also, discuss a scene in the movie and explain how the way Branagh chose to portray the scene helped to clarify the scene or make the scene more confusing. Again, do not write about a scene that someone else has chosen.
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Crystal Nybo
ReplyDelete"O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't A brothers murder. Pray can I not, though inclination be as sharp as will. My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent." (3.3.40-44)
This quote is from the King and he is confessing that he is feeling guilty about his deed. It shows the reader that the King really did kill his brother and it leads us up to what Hamlet is going to do to avenge his fathers murder. It also talks about the eldest curse meaning Cain and Abel, where Cain killed his brother Abel out of murder. This theme is still kept throughout the play.
In the movie the scene about the play was a little different then I had imaged. I did not picture Hamlet speaking so loudly, so that everyone could hear his rude remarks. Or I did not picture him walking onto the stage as the murder scene was unfolding that caught me off guard. I don't think I liked that as much the connection of the play relating to the Queen and Kings life was so upfront no one could miss it.
Oh tis to true how smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience. the harlets beautied with plastering art that not more ugly to the thing that helps it. then is my deed to my most painted word. Oh heavy burden! 3.1.line 56
ReplyDeleteThis quote is significant to the rest of the play because it talks about how King Claudius has been covering up his wrong doing to make his matter dissapear. His heinous act of Killing Hamlett's pop can only be covered up for so long until the burden of murder is too much.
In the movie the part when Hamlett recites Shakespears famous quote "To be or not to be" i thought was done rather well. Hamlett knew the whole time that everyone was wathcing him, and he did a splendid job of being impactual and showing his feelings.
p.s. I Dan McMillan did his blog before Sarah Alaura Hale.
Sarah Hale:)
ReplyDelete"That show of such an exercise may color your (lonliness.)-We are oft to blame in this ('Tis too much proved), that with devotion's visage and pious action we do sugar o'er The devil himself." Polonius 3.1.51
This quote is very ironic to the circumstances to which Polonius is currently in, with King Claudis standing next to him-a prime example of a person who sugar coats their sins. Polonius is basically stating that people will mask over their wrong doings for a sense of personal gratitude and acceptance. Kind Claudius, committing the greatest of all sins-murder-then enters into a breif, secretive admittance to having the heavy burden that comes with covering up his wrong doing. The quote pertains to the entire play by the need to sugar coat wrong doings.
A scene in the movie which I thought was actually a bit confusing was the first scene of Act III with Polonius and the King discussing Hamlet and their plan to spy on him and exile him. Their discussion of sugar coating sins and the King's grim self-admittance of murder.
Derek Decker
ReplyDelete"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - Queen Gertrude (3.2.254)
Here, Gertrude tells Hamlet about how she doesn't like how the Player Queen is constantly vowing that she will be faithful to her husband even after he's dead. The way I see it, she is stating that she, unlike the Player Queen, would not make such vows because she has no problem with marrying someone else in the wake of her first husband's death. This quote likely reinforces Hamlet's negative views of women, evidenced by his accusation of Ophelia as being unchaste and his accusation of Gertrude as having killed King Hamlet herself.
One scene in the movie that didn't make sense was Act 3, Scene 1, when Hamlet was thinking on suicide and then talking to Ophelia. Hamlet makes it clear that he knows EXACTLY where Claudius and Polonius are hiding, even though there's nothing to indicate this to him at all. I just found that part confusing.
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ReplyDeleteChristine Nafziger
ReplyDelete“My fault is my past. But, O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder? That cannot be, since I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.” (3.3.55-59)
King Claudius is confessing to God and asking forgiveness for killing his brother, Hamlet. He wants to be forgiven but he still has things that he gained from killing his brother. By killing King Hamlet, Claudius gained kingship, a wife from his brother, and his ambition. Claudius wants to know if with these things he can still be forgiven.
The scene that I saw Branagh do differently then I thought was when Hamlet was talking to his mother. He was very violent with her and the book gives no indication that he would be so mean to her. I thought that this was an interesting choice Branagh made.
Hamlet:
ReplyDelete"Confess yourself to heaven/Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,/And do not spread the compost on the weeds/To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,/ For, in the fatness of these pursy times,/Virtue itself of vice must person beg,/Yea, curb and woo for leave to do good." (Act3.Scene4.Lines 170-176)
This is a significant role in the play because Hamlet says to his mother what she believes. She still believes he's mad. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. This we don't know for sure.
The way this scene was in the movie,it wasn't at all what I expected. It made Hamlet look like he was just daffy from his father's death. Though he had proved that the King was squirmy during the reenactment of his father's murder, the look in his eye mad him look truely mad.
Samielle Foltz
ReplyDelete“When he is drunk sleep, or in his rage,/ Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed...Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,/ And that his soul may be damned and black/ As hell, whereto it goes.”(3.3.94-100)
Before Hamlet speaks these lines he had prepared himself to kill King Claudius. Before he does so with his sword he changes his mind. This is a crucial point in the play because if Shakespeare had chosen he could have ended the play, Hamlet killing Claudius right then and there. If Hamlet had killed Claudius then he would have served justice in a way that would most likely have pleased the Ghost. Knowing that but seeing Claudius kneeling in prayer and supposedly cleansed by God, Shakespeare chooses to change Hamlets motives. Instead of serving justice and killing Claudius, Hamlet wants to kill Claudius in a sinful act before he has a chance to repent of it. That way Claudius is supposedly doomed to serve a sentence in purgatory before going off to heaven as a white soul. In essence, Hamlets actions are no longer made in service but are made as acts of revenge for the murder of his father. This not only creates an interesting plot but it lengthens it.
Act 3 scene 3 where King Claudius is confessing his sins and Hamlet is secretly there listening. This scene played out pretty well in my opinion. The way they had Hamlet kind of stick his sword through the mesh? side of the cubicle thing showed how easily he could have killed Claudius. I half expected the setting to be a little different, more light and candles or something and more open space making it so Claudius wasn't so cut off from the rest of the room. I also thought that Hamlet would have had to run openly to kill the king so Claudius could see his eyes before he died. However, when Branagh chose to act out a split second of what Hamlet would have done, stab Claudius through the ear to kill him, made Hamlets possible act of murder like a reenactment of how Hamlet Sr. had died. Sort of like poetic justice, Hamlet Sr. dies by poison through the ear Claudius dies by sword through the ear.
Garrett Johnson
ReplyDelete"O God, your only jig-maker. What should a/ man do but be merry? For look you how cheerfully/ my mother looks, and my father died within 's two/ hours." -Hamlet (III.2.132-135)
This quote is significant to the rest of the play because it follows the theme of Hamlet trying to guilt trip his mother. It shows his great displeasure that his mother is perfectly content with marrying her late husband's brother so shortly after he had died. This is also a set up for what is to come when Hamlet confronts his mother and verbally abuses her.
The acting during this part of the movie was very flambuoyant on Hamlet's part. He made a point of making a fool out of his mother and Ophelia at the same time. Branaugh chose to have Hamlet sit close enough to his mother and others so it was obvious that everyone around him heard his obnoxious banter. Overall I thought that this scene was played out very well. To those (like me) who have a harder time following the complicated language that Shakespeare uses, the acting plays a big part in queing me what is going on.
Kirsten Zoba
ReplyDeleteHamlet: "This counselor,/ Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,/ Who was in life a foolsh prating knave.-" III.4.236-238
This quote is one of the many puns littered throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet. The word grave refers to both 1) the definition: stern/serious, and 2) a literal grave. A knave is someone who is dishonest and untrustworthy, which he is saying his mother is.
My favorite scene within the move was when Hamlet kills Polonius from behind the curtain thinking it was Claudius. When I read the book it seemed so rash and random, It didn't really make sense to me, but in the movie, it was easier to understand the intensity of the moment.
"To be, or not to be, that is the question"
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote becuase I think out of every line in the play, this one is most famous so it must be most significant. Its the start of Hamlets speech before he talks with Ophelia, and it seems a passage to Hamlets true feelings, not just his acting crazy.
I liked how the movie showed people coming and going and talking like in the beginning when the king was talking to rosencraft and its just easier to see whos talking to eachother and with the expressions and stuff its easier to understand the point they are trying to construe.
Lexy Kaftan
ReplyDelete"I like him not, nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range. Therefore prepare you i your commission will forthwith dispatch and he to england shall along with you" 3.3.1-4
This is Claudius telling guildenstern to take hamlet to england because he fears Hamlet knows about his dirty deed and doesnt want the kingdom finding out, especially the queen who knows not of her husbands sins.
The scene in the movie that was protrayed well was the scene with Hamlet and Ophelia when Ophelia was used as bait to find out if he is really crazy or just crazy for love. The actions became very clear and so did the lines and how they meshed together with the other parts.
"Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
ReplyDeleteMother, you have my father much offended."
(3.4.12-13)
This quote is at the beginning of when Hamlet has his talk with his mom. The Queen tells Hamlet that his actions had offended the King, his "father". That the play and the scene me made has made the king upset and that he should be sorry for it. But Hamlet turns it around on her, saying that she offended his REAL father, Old King Hamlet. That by marrying her husband's brother, her husbands murderer, and the hastyness of the marriage, that she offended Old King Hamlet and broke her promise about not marrying another if one of them dies.
One part in the movie that confused me was during the play scene, it seemed as if Hamlet over-did his act of trying to get the King to act. I thought that it would be more subtle in the book, and then the reactions of the rest of the crowd made it seem as if they knew as well that something was up. I thought this was incredibly confusing.
Jenn Hergert
ReplyDelete"To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come..."
This quote is significant because Hamlet decides not to kill himself; obviously as a result of this the play continues. He determines that the "undiscovered country" of death is more terrifying than the sadness he's going through in life, that the things he has suffered may potentially be nothing compared to what comes after death.
I thought this same soliloquy was delivered in the movie in a very powerful way. I liked the use of the two way mirrors and the big hall to create a very dramatic effect.
Anna Billmaier
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
"Thou turn'st my eyes into my very soul,/ and there I see such black and grained spots/ a will not leave their tinct." (3.3.4 ln 100-102) -Queen Gertrude
Queen Gertrude says this to Hamlet when he is telling her all that she did wrong. According to the Bible, a person's soul starts out white, when it's pure, and each time a person sins, a black spot appears on their soul. The Queen is saying that she can see all the black spots on her sould from all the sins she has recently committed.
I thought the scene when Hamlet is talking to Ophelia was overdone. When we read it I did not expect Hamlet to be violent towards her, but in the movie he was grabbing Ophelia's neck and putting his hands all over his face out of anger of what she has done to him.
Katie Martens
ReplyDeleteperiod 3
"But that the dread of something after death , the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have then fly to others we know not of"-- Hamlet
This quote is giving a reason why Hamlet does not want to committ suicide. He is saying that it is because of the uncertainty of what happens after death. If he kills himself, he does not know if something worse my happen to him. He is also saying that it is better to bear the troubles that we face in life, then the uncertainty of death.
One part of the bok that I was confused about before seeing the movie was when King Claudis was consfessing his sins. In the movie it clearly showed that Hamlet was right next to him, listening in on what he was saying. I liked how the movie clarified this particular part of the book for me.
Bridget Cook
ReplyDelete"The instances that second marriage move are base respects of thrift, but none if love. A second time I kill my husband dead when second husband kisses me in bed." (III. II. 205-208)
The actress who is playing the queen is saying that when she sleeps with her second husband (Gertrude and Cluadius) she kills her first husband all over again. Because she was previously married, sleeping with another man after the first is dead, is like cheating on her first husband when he was alive. This quote shows that Hamlet knows about his fathers murder and that he disapproves of his mothers actions.
I wasn't here for the movie portion.
Gina Chenoweth
ReplyDelete"A second time I killed my husband dead when second husband kisses me in bed." (3.2.246)
This quote is from the play Hamlet wrote when the Player Queen says (several times) that she will never marry a second time. This is one of the lines that encourages the queen to mention this to Hamlet.
A scene in the movie that was confusing was when Hamlet is telling off his mother in her bedroom. He says he will not hurt her except with words, but was very violent. It was theatrical for the movie, but not accurate to the book.
Brody Hovatter
ReplyDelete"For 'tis the sport to have the enginer hoist with his own petard." Hamlet 3.4.229-230
This is what Hamlet says to his mother (Queen Gertrude) after he has confronted her about marrying the man who killed his father. Hamlet knows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are plotting to trick Hamlet into going to London. To "hoist an enginer with his own petard" means to trick a man with his own tool, meaning that Hamlet is going to attempt to foil their plans and trick them into doing something else.
Unfortunately, I was absent during the movie.
Kiera Wesley
ReplyDelete"Get thee to a nunnery, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fol, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them." (III. I, 148)
This is a significant quote because it shows that Hamlet is not crazy in love with Opelia and beigns to let the other characters know that he is having problems other than with his love life. And that he is severely distrought by the murder of his father. This quote shows that he has little simpathy for anyone except for himself because he does not feel that anyone understands the pain that he has been put through with his uncle becoming king and his mother marrying her own husband's brother.
I did not see the movie because I was sick on Monday and Tuesday.
Laura Ahlrep
ReplyDelete"No, by the rood, not so./ You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife,/ and (would it were not so) you are my mother." (1. 3 19-21)
This is a significant quote because it is mocking the queen for her choice to go for her former husbands brother. It leads up to the whole scene where Hamlet verbally attacks his mom about how she could go from such greatness to such filth. He uses straight forward comments to her but at the same time is being sassy and creative with how he words it.
I thought that in the movie the scene where Hamlet confronts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about how they thought they could play him but cannot even play such a simple insturment as a recorder. The way I imagined it in the book was Hamlet saying it more in a sassy tone but in the movie he is straight out yelling and thrashing around. I just think it's interesting how crazy and wild they have made Hamlet in the movie, it really helps show the mentalness he has taken on by the whole murder.
Savannah Guillen
ReplyDelete“It is a massy wheel / Fixed on the summit of the highest mount, / To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things / Are mortised and adjoined, which, when it falls, / Each small annexment, petty consequence, / Attends the boist’rous ruin” (3.III. 18-23).
With this quote, Rosencrantz is telling Claudius that everything depends on him, and that if the king died, his subjects would not be able to survive without a leader. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern agree to Claudius’s order to take Hamlet to England because the king’s safety is so important. This relates to what Laertes says to Ophelia in Act 1, because Hamlet’s will, as a future king, is not his own because he is subject to his birth.
My favorite part of the movie was the scene with the two-way mirrors because it seemed as though Hamlet could actually see Claudius and Polonius spying on his encounter with Ophelia. I think it was a very effective scene with a good portrayal of emotion.
Jaina Shah
ReplyDelete“A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal TO give the world assurance of a man. This was you husband. Look you now what follows. Hers is your husband, like a mildewed ear Blasting his wholesome brother Have you eyes? (3. 4. 70-75)
In this quote Hamlet is talking to queen. Hamlet is trying to her that, you married someone who killed your former husband. Telling her look at the happiness of two brother and king Hamlet is better courageous and hero like and the other one is different. Can’t you see you do not have love.
In the movie I really thought they played well because when I read it, I see Hamlet getting mad and telling queen what he thinks. And what is right and wrong? So, what I imagined, what right and played right.
Jade Baumann
ReplyDelete"I will speak daggers to her, but use none." -Hamlet (Act 3 Scene 2)
This quote is very important to the play. Hamlet is explaing his frustrtaions with his mother and her decisions prior meeting with her in the castle for a talk. He mentions that he will not kill her, but he will not be nice to her, he is very upset with her recent behavior. I believe this is a very important part to the play, in that it shows how much his mothers life has taken affect on him to even consider the thought of murdering her.
The scene in the movie of the meeting between Hamlet and ophelia cleared things up a lot for me. I origianally was very confused at how he was nice and loving to her and all of a sudden betrayed her in the same couple minutes. But the movie showed how this transition was made, and how they're emotions and actions towards eachother changed throughout the scene.
Tori Weisel
ReplyDelete“Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard. Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight. Away, for everything is sealed and done that else leans on th’ affair. Pray you, make haste” (IV.3. 63-66).
This quote is significant to the play because in this quote the King is telling Rosencrantz that he will send Hamlet to England so that he can have someone in England kill Hamlet. The king sent letters ahead of Hamlet telling the people to kill him. At this point in the play it makes you wonder if Hamlet will fall for what the king is saying or if Hamlet already knows what the plan is and he will find a way to kill the king instead.
In the movie I thought the part where Hamlet stabs Polonius was better than how it was written in the book. In the book it sounded really cheesy how Polonius says “O, I am slain!”, but in the movie they didn’t emphasize it as much so it didn’t sound so weird.
Mark Galambos
ReplyDeleteThe scene in which Claudius and Polonius hid behind the mirrors and watched Hamlet perform his famous soliloquy is incredible, it allows Branagh to show how Claudius and Polonious sneak upon Hamlet and listen in.
The scene becomes especially dramatic when Ophelia enters, and Hamlet discovers he is being spyed upon. When he brings her up to the mirror that her father is watching behind is extraordinary.
Erik Enselman
ReplyDelete"Tis brief my lord" 3.2.174 Ophelia
"As womens love" 3.2.175 Hamlet
These quotes are important to the play because it shows that Hamlet and Ophelia are having difficulties with their relationship. This is a partial cause to Hamlets craziness and aggresiveness towards women like Ophelia and his Mother. Eventually, even Ophelia starts to turn crazy. These are actually very important quotes.
A scene from the movie that seemed very wierd to me was when Hamlet was talking with Gertrude and Hamlet stabs Polonious through the sheet. In feel like Hamlet killed him very fast and it seemed like a slower more painful death in the book.
"Do not forget. This visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. But look, amazement on thy mother sits. O, step between her and her fighting soul. Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works. Speak to her, Hamlet." (III.4.126-131)
ReplyDeleteThis is when Hamlet went to go talk to his mother after the play about his actions. The ghost at this point came in to tell Hamlet to settle his mother down because he doesn't want her to get hurt just Claudius. Hamlet also starts to tell his mother what he believes Claudius did to his father and to not sleep with him anymore.
I think the movie helped clear up the scene I took that quote from because I wasn't sure about the picture part when Hamlet took out the two picture and compared them. As well as the ghost being right in front of both of them and she just couldn't see it.
Leslee Fall
ReplyDelete"There's something in his soul/ O'er which his melancholy sits on brood,/ And i do doubt the hatch and the disclose/ Will be some danger; which for to prevent,/ I have in quick determination/ Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England/ For the demand of our neglected tribute." (3.1.178-184)
Here the King has just heard Hamlet mistreat Ophelia and realizes that he is crazy and wants to send him to England. This quote is important to the book because it shows Hamlets true nature and this is the part where the plot starts to become really interesting. The King and Polonius start to plot and Ophelia will start to lose everything that means most to her. Hamlet seems dangerous to the King and he is planning on sending him away.
During the scene when Hamlet was talking to Ophelia in Scene 1, i was didn't expect it to be so powerful. Hamlet seemed very abusive to Ophelia and i didn't see that scene to be anyway like that when i read it. I think this scene was over done in the movie.
Brian Gleadle
ReplyDelete"Do not look upon me, Lest with this piteous action you convert my stern effects. Then what i have to do will want true color--tears perchance for blood." (3.4.144-148)
This quote is important to the rest of the book because at this point, while hamlet is talking to his mother, the ghost appears. And to his mother it appears as though Hamlet is talking to thin air. But in reality he is talking to the ghost, who came back to remind him to stay on his true course, getting revenge for his true fathers death. He wasnt supposed to be taking out his vengeance on his mother. Hamlet realizes he is getting side tracked and needs to focus on his blood lust for his uncle.
I was unfortunately not in class for the movie portion of this blog because of band.
Maxx Forde
ReplyDelete"We are oft to blame in this, —/'Tis too much prov'd, — that with devotion's visage,/And pious action, we do sugar o'er/The devil himself"
Act 3 Scene 1
This quote is important to the play because it talks of trying to cover up bad things. It is a metaphor talking of trying to cover up murder, a murder in which King Claudius killed his own brother. He then tries to cover it up.
The scene in a movie that I thought Branagh helped make more clear is within the "to be or not to be" speach. I liked how he made it so it was clear that Hamlet knew that Claudius and Polonius were behind the two-way mirror. I really thought it helped clear things up for me.
Denisse Manrique
ReplyDelete"This was your husband. Look now what follows.Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed and batten on this moor?"- Hamlet
This is significant to the play because Hamlet is telling his mother Queen Gertrude that King Cluadius killed Old hamlet and how he could marry and love someone that cannot compare to his father. He compares his father to a mountain and Claudius to the barren land much below a mountain. This part of the plays reflects another part in Act 2 where hamlet compares his father to a god and Claudius to a mythological creature.
I found this scene in the movie to be different as to how i imagined it in the play. I thought that there would be less physical confrontation. I liked that the movie didnt give off an oedipus complex vibe because in my opinion I dont think that Hamlet has one.