Blake Chapman Essays (534 words) - Characters In Hamlet, Literature

Blake Chapman Period 1 12/16/16 A brusque but engaging, the movie features a streamlined script, plenty of action, and an excellent supporting cast. Mel Gibson plays the deranged prince with vigor and gives the well-known tragedy teen appeal. This version strips down the engaging story so kids will understand it easily. For example, Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship is made less ambiguous. Lavish sets and costumes lend the movie an old world feel that ideally suits the impassioned revenge story. Mel Gibson was clearly hired to play Hamlet for box office insurance. In 1990 he was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Gibson was however, horribly miscast as Hamlet because he looked too old for the part. Hamlet is at best 24, while Gibson was 34 but looked 44. Gibson's age is noticeably bothersome whenever he does a scene with Glenn Close, who looks as young, or even younger, than Gibson, even though she is playing his mother. Helena Bonham Carter, who is ten years younger than Gibson, plays his girlfriend but when they share a scene, she looks more like his daughter than his lover. The King of Denmark is dead. Wasting no time, Queen Gertrude (Glenn Close) marries Claudius, the dead man's brother and the new king. Prince Hamlet (Mel Gibson), son of the dead king, is horribly morose; he curses his mother and suspects his uncle of murder. When the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and entreats him to avenge his murder, the heartbroken son sets out to prove Claudius' treachery, but is hindered by his increasingly troubled psychological state. This film version captures all of the high-drama of Shakespeare's timeless play as characters within the castle Elsinore's walls are tossed about by deceit, revenge, secrets, lies, loyalty, passion, heartbreak, murder, suicide, painful self-realization, and more. Although Mel Gibson seemed miscast he delivers a riveting performance wearing Hamlet's emotions on his face for all to see. Sure, as Patrick stated, you could call it over-acting but this is Shakespeare and the drama is all there is. You never have to guess what anyone is thinking, most of all Gibson. You see his anger, jealousy, rage, frustration and his mask of insanity. It is one juicy role and Mel Gibson throws himself full force into it. His age may betray him but his acting never does. Visually, Hamlet looks superb. The location, sets, and costumes perfectly capture the feel of Shakespeare's medieval Denmark: that is, while the story itself has a timelessness about it (unlike Shakespeare's more time-specific history plays), the film's attention to appropriate period detail provides an additional layer of depth. One of the most interesting things about Hamlet , in terms of its style, is how active it is. Director Franco Zeffirelli isn't shy about having his characters move from one location to another as they converse, and even the famous soliloquies are far from static. It makes sense, after all: there's no reason to assume that the scenes have to be totally static, just because of the limitations of live theater, or because Shakespeare didn't happen to include stage directions in his scripts.