William's Shakespeares Hamlet Through the Eyes of Kenneth Branagh

William Shakespeare's Hamlet Through the Eyes of Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth's Branagh's film Hamlet was by far one of the greatest films produced based off of Shakespeare's work. Branagh sets the play in the 19th century inside the beautiful Shepperton Studios, with Blenheim Palace as the exterior grounds in the play. The intriguing visuals in the film are extremely contrasting - from the vibrant colors inside the Elsinore castle to total darkness outside of the castle. Act 1 Scene 5 of Hamlet expresses the darkness on the exterior grounds, where Hamlet encounters the Ghost in the foggy forest. This particular scene emphasizes King Hamlet's anger because of his cowardly murder by Claudius and the eagerness for revenge. With the combination of startling camera angles, flashbacks and gloomy atmosphere, Branagh allows the audience to feel immersed in the scene and foreshadows the unfortunate circumstances as the play progresses.

Act 1 Scene 5 started off with Hamlet searching through the misty woods in an attempt to find the Ghost, whose voice echoed throughout the forest. The camera's perspective is through Hamlet's eyes, allowing the audience to experience the situation as though they were Hamlet himself. Branagh's use of this technique is to immerse the viewers into this scene and express Hamlet's fear in his point of view. Through the use of this technique, it allowed the audience to gain an intimate view into the scene, as well as into Hamlet's mind as well. It connected Hamlet with the audience and created a feeling of suspense and anxiety for the rest of the play. For example, after the ghost quoted the line "So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear" (Shakespeare 28), the camera stopped moving and switched to Hamlet being pushed on the ground by the Ghost. The camera then zoomed into the Ghost who announced to Hamlet, "I am thy father's spirit" (Shakespeare 28) which added to the suspense of hearing the Ghost declare that he was Hamlet's father. Branagh's effect of zooming in from below, in Hamlet's perspective, helped emphasize the Ghost's position to indicate his anger for his unexpected death. By having the figure of the Ghost loom over Hamlet and cast an additional shadow over the already dark woods, it presented the audience with a foreshadowing that Denmark's future would be a corrupt and frightening one.

As the scene progresses, the camera focused on the Ghost's mouth as he spoke. When he spoke the word "Murder" (Shakespeare 29), Branagh emphasized the word by doing a close up of the Ghost's moving lips. Accompanying the word murder, were flashbacks to the event itself, which added to the chilling images that flashed before the audiences eyes. The flashbacks helped emphasize the severity, as well as the cruelty of the murder through the one scene being repeated. In addition, the camera also concentrated on the daunting eyes of King Hamlet as he informed Hamlet that "... howsomever thou pursues this act, / Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / Against thy mother aught" (Shakespeare 30). The unyielding intensity in the Ghost's eyes as he spoke to Hamlet showed the former's eagerness for his son to enact revenge on behalf of the dead king. Hence, the focusing effect of the camera suggests the significance of King Hamlet's words and his desperation for revenge; which may ultimately lead to unfavorable circumstances within the other characters in the play.

While reading Hamlet, I had not visualized that particular scene to be portrayed in the woods but instead in the castle where Hamlet would usually be found. However, Branagh's version of the scene in the woods revealed a feeling of uneasiness while presenting a frightening atmosphere. The aura that Branagh created particularly with the darkness and fog, which enveloped the woods, gave the viewers a spine-chilling experience. The existence of the Ghost itself already inferred that something bad was about to happen. In addition, Branagh's interpretation