Blog #23: Hamlet Act 3 To Be Or Not To Be Mis En Scene

Mis En Scene Analysis:
         In its essence, this soliloquy is an argument by Hamlet addressed to Hamlet. He contemplates many things, among them: action vs. inaction, life vs. death, and endings vs. beginnings where his essential philosophical question is, "To be or not to be:" (3.1.55). However within his argument, there lies a paradox. Life is a lack of power where one is at the mercy of "outrageous fortune" (3.1.57) while death is empowering because killing oneself takes fate into their own hands, to reach death, one must take action in life. Thus his whole argument is hopeless, because one has no power in life. This hopeless argument results in Hamlet's inaction, an ironic fact that he realizes at the end of the soliloquy.
       I think Branagh recognizes this best through his portrayal of this famous soliloquy. The camera is not focused on Hamlet, but rather Hamlet's reflection, addressing himself in the mirror. This reflects Branagh's understanding that the audience of this speech is Hamlet. Furthermore, the delivery of this speech was the most accurate to what I thought the tone should be. I believe that Hamlet is very frustrated and depressed in this soliloquy. He is obviously depressed as he is contemplating suicide, but he is also very frustrated as he recognizes the oppositions in his argument and his resulting inaction and lack of power. This is emphasized by Hamlet drawing out a knife which reinforces his frustrated mindset. Furthermore I like how the camera zooms in on Hamlet as the soliloquy proceeds because just as more of Hamlet's thoughts are revealed as the speech proceeds, the camera simultaneously gives us a closer look into his mindset as time passes. In addition, I like the fact that there were no diagetic sounds and very few digressions from Hamlet's face in order to put the focus on Hamlet and Hamlet alone.

Other Rankings:
I would rank Ethan Hawke's as second best. While I didn't really understand his choice to set it in a Blockbuster store, I appreciate the irony that Hamlet is walking up and down the action aisle trying to pick an action [movie]. Furthermore I like the close up shots of Hamlets face, emphasizing the focus of this soliloquy, but I was not really a fan of the digressions to the video of the explosion. I also did not really like the delivery of the soliloquy because it was very melancholic while I imagined there to be some frustration and anger present as well. I liked Laurence Olivier's the least simply because I did not like the fact that Hamlet addressed the audience, because that is not his true audience. Furthermore, while he had a knife like in Branagh's version, I did not like how he drops it into the sea at the end since the ending of the soliloquy emphasizes action over self reflection. If Hamlet is calling himself to action, why would he drop his knife, an important tool, into the sea?