Our Class #4

WOW. That was a lot of Hamlet in the last couple weeks. All the movies were very interesting in their own way and definitely gave different perspectives on the play. I didn't however like one version over the other, I think they all had their own strengths and weaknesses. And to be honest after watching like five different versions in a row I was a little exaughsted of Hamlet overall,  all the movies just combined in my mind as one giant weird movie.

The one that I really didn't like was the more modern one, the one that was set in the 1900's but still had the original words. It didn't make any sense to me, if you have very old English words than don't pair them with a modern setting. Nobody talks like that today! So that made me quite angry because I think it mocks Hamlet's story and makes it seem like a joke to me. I am sure that is not what the director of the movie was going for but for me personally, I didn't get it.

I liked watching the different versions as a whole because we got to see what choices the filmmakers made in each one and how it had an effect on the overall story. Maybe not five of them because now I can't remember which one is which and like I said before they have all melded together. As a whole however it was a very good idea to compare the movies. Some of the decisions we saw in the movies I still haven't even decided myself, for example if Gertrude knew that the wine was poisoned before she drank it. In the actual words of the play you could argue both ways that she is oblivious or she knew and was trying to sacrifice herself for Hamlet. When I read it I think that she did have some inclination that something was going on with the wine but like I said I really don't know which is the right answer if there even is a right answer.

Another thing that I thought was interesting about the directors choices was how Claudius was portrayed. When I initially read Hamlet I found Claudius as an evil character, killing old Hamlet seems like an unforgivable action, but than some of the movies got me thinking. The fact that old Hamlet was portrayed as a ghost in this eerie and almost devilish way made me think maybe old Hamlet wasn't so good than, maybe he has some secrets that we didn't know about. Also some of the movies Claudius really didn't seem all that bad and Hamlet seemed the one that was being unreasonable, Patrick Stewart for example did not seem like an evil Claudius too me and I was almost sad when he died. I also could have been unconsciously bias from some of the other things Patrick Stewart has starred in. 

Aside from the rambling about some of the smaller parts in Hamlet I am really excited to finish it up. We have been have discussions for a while and I want to move on to motifs and theme statements so I understand the play to my full capabilities. I am also excited to start reading Gildenstern and Rozencratz Are Dead because I skimmed some of it and it looks really funny and modern like the American Dream was.

 How this all connects to my life. Well it really does! I was kind of surprised because all we have been doing is Hamlet and I didn't think I would see a whole bunch of references already.  I find myself in class like making Hamlet jokes and nobody gets them, it's kind of sad really. Like I will be sitting in class and say "thou lay my head upon your lap" and nobody understands what I'm talking about, it of course has a context. I don't just go screaming that through the hallways or anything. So overall I am glad we read Hamlet, it is a classic piece and I'm glad I can understand references on TV and when people mention quotes from the play.