Ophelia's Eulogy

As we gather here today, to mourn the death of Ophelia, we get to look back on all the good times we had with her. She had a very loving and cheerful personality that will never be forgotten. Many have been arguing about whether or not Ophelia deserved a proper Christian burial, we believe she does. The rumor going around is that Ophelia took her own life but we do not believe that at all. Several questions have been brought upon Gertrude because she was the only one that witnessed Ophelia's death. Why couldn't she help Ophelia in any way or at least try to stop her? No one will ever know the answers to these questions besides Ophelia and Gertrude. No matter what actually happened or how Ophelia was feeling at her last moments she will be truly missed.

Before Ophelia's passing, she had become extremely stressed which caused her to become mentally ill. Because of Ophelia's loving personality, her stress was greatly effected by the death of her father and her destroyed relationship with Hamlet. The love that Hamlet had for Ophelia was like no other and Ophelia felt the same way. Polonius, Ophelia's father, forbiddened her from being with Hamlet which caused Ophelia's heart to break and almost go into a depression. Shortly after, Hamlet killed Polonius and Ophelia felt like it was all her fault, which caused her stress and depression to increase. Hamlet, on the other hand, blamed it on his madness which had contributed to Ophelia's madness. But Hamlet would get rid of any madness just to be with Ophelia again.

Ophelia appreciated all the close people in her life and would do anything for them. It is such a shame that we lost her a such a young age. Unfortunately, it seems as though Gertrude could of saved her but instead, let her go but no one will ever find out the truth. Ophelia was a strong girl and would of usually fought through this rough time but maybe there was something that pushed her over the top. The only person that knows exactly what happened and how she was feeling is Ophelia herself. Rest easy beautiful.

Hamlet's Dilema

In this scene Hamlet is faced with another major decision, whether or not to kill his uncle, Claudius. He is debating this because Claudius was the one that killed Hamlet's father and married his mom. As Claudius is in church praying, Hamlet walks up behind him and hold a knife about his head. Right before he dropped his hands, he stepped back and walked away. I do believe that Hamlet was right for hesitating because you should never kill a man while he is praying but instead, wait until he is sinning. Before he decides to kill him, I think he should consider his mother's happiness. If Claudius makes her happy and betters her life, Hamlet should try to get over it and move on. The play, The Mousetrap, have Hamlet a chance to see if Claudius truly felt guilty or was putting on a show, which he later proved to be guilty. Seeing that Claudius was truthfully guilty and sorry, Hamlet is now second guessing his plan even more. I believe he should forgive Claudius and not murder him.

To be or not to be

Film 1 Olivier: In this version Hamlet, who was also the director, was very soft spoken and feminine. The whole time he is giving the speech he is holding a knife, waving it near his head. When his voice became dramatic and louder, the knife would move closer to his head. This shows that at many times, he was very close to actually killing himself. The setting was very glooming and had Hamlet sitting on a big rock looking out over the foggy ocean. This showed that he had isolated himself from everyone so he could give himself time to reflect and try and make a decision.

Film 2 Mel Gibson: The setting for this version was underground in catacomb where most of his relative's dead bodies lay. This set a very depressing and strange mood because it seemed as though he was trying to ask the dead bodies about after life. In addition to talking to the dead bodies, it seems as though he was talking to his own thoughts and trying to figure out if life is worth living. The lighting of this film is dark most of the time but when he started to get angry and louder, it became even darker, almost like a shadow. Hamlet had no knife in his hand while he was in the catacomb.

Film 3 Branagh: Hamlet in this version is in his mansion starring at himself in a mirror. It seems as though looking into the mirror really helped him see inside of himself and truly see his thoughts. While he was looking into the mirror, he had a knife in his hand that would slowly get closer to his body then slowly move away. Most of the time he has a very hushed tone and only a few times did he get loud and angry. The lighting was dimmed, almost as if one light bulb had gone out. Little did he know, the mirror that he was starting into was a two way mirror and two of his friends were standing on the other side watching him the whole time.

Film 4 Hauke: In this modern version Hamlet was pacing up and down the action aisles of Block Buster. For most of it you could see that he was not speaking out loud and the words we were hearing were his thoughts. He was the only one in the store and one of the TV's was broke which gave off a strange feel. In the one tv a movie was playing a movie that had a dangerous vibe. The symbolism of him walking up and down the action aisles is him contemplating on doing the action but never actually doing it. He can not work up enough courage to actually kill himself and this is why he continues to pace up and down the aisles.

Reflection: The reason that there are so many versions could be because there are many different ways to interpret the film. Some films do a better job then others in catching the feel and right tone of the characters. The version that is made the best for this scene has to be the Mel Gibson one.

The ghost scene from Hamlet

The more emotional of the three versions was the Zeffireli version. In this one Hamlet showed sorrow for his fathers ghost and later growing angry when the ghost leaves. As the ghost talks he has tears in his eyes showing that he truely misses his son but must tell him how he actually died. The music in this version set a very depressed and dismal mood. In the Branagh version they should a flashback, as the ghost was talking, of when his brother poisoned him. This helped Hamlet better understand how his father actually does. This version had fast paced music that expressed how the ghost felt while he was being poisoned. The third version, by Almereyda, was a more modern day version. I personally did not like this version bc the ghost seemed too real and there was very little emotion put into it. The father in this version actually touched his son as if he was not a ghost which made it much less realistic. The music expressed pain and grief as the father talked. 
Not many props were used in Zeffirelli's version or in Almeyerda's version. In Branagh's version the flash back used many props to fully get across how he died. It also used props to make the father's ghost scary and actually seem like a spirit.
The lighting in Zeffirelli's version was slightly dimmed to set a mysterious mood while the lighting in Branagh's version was dark to set a scarier mood. The lighting in Almeyerda's version is too bright and gives off no special feeling. 
If I had to recommend one version it would definitely be Branagh's.