How Hamlet's Behavior in Theater Differed
William Shakespeare's theater differed from ours in several respects, but most notably in the fact that women's parts were played by males, often younger boys. Shakespeare at times uses this fact to make additional double entendre's in his comedies, while the convention that men play women has to be accepted and accommodated in a different way in the tragedies. In Hamlet, the two important female parts are Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and Ophelia, the girl everyone assumes is his love interest, though he treats her as if she were not much of the time. The way Laurence Olivier treated these two characters in his 1949 film of Hamlet is in keeping with much critical opinion on the play and the characters. Olivier creates an image of Denmark as a forbidding place pounded by nature and in turmoil because of the death of a king. This is not to say that this film is merely conventional in its approach, for instead, Olivier's version is highly inventive and daring. It makes use of both stage and film conventions at one and the same time. The fabricated sets make the film an interior experience like the set on a stage, and what exteriors there are have been shot on a soundstage where every element is controlled. This means the imag
Hamlet wanders from one stage set to another, taking the audience with him as the camera moves through short hallways that seem painted rather than real. Hamlet's reaction to his mother in particular has Freudian overtones, in keeping with what Elaine Showalter says about this relationship. These symbolic meanings are specifically feminine. The sky is always dark and foreboding. 3)The film also emphasizes the relationship with the mother even over Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia:It seems clear that Hamlet is far more attracted to his mother than he is to Ophelia, whose distance from him is frequently exaggerated through wide-angle deep-focus photography - his frostiness towards her is palpable, and has led to accusations that Olivier's Hamlet is rather colder than Shakespeare intended. But howsoever thou pursuest this act,Taint not they mind, nor let thy soul contriveAgainst they mother aught: leave her to heaven. Olivier uses the conventions of filmmaking in the way he presents the soliloquies and also in the way moves from place to place by cutting, shifting the action in a way that would be impossible on a stage while retaining the conventions of the stage. As noted, Olivier adheres to the traditions of the play and depicts the women in feminine terms, as defined by the society of the time. Still, the guilt of the mother is established by the words of the Ghost, and she and Claudius are linked. Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and also a co-conspirator in his father's death. That response has to be seen in light of the view that Gertrude knew nothing of the murder of her husband, which Carolyn G.
Common topics in this essay:
Laurence Olivier,
Ghost Hamlet,
Ophelia Gertrude,
Gertrude Hamlet's,
Olivier's Hamlet,
Elaine Showalter,
Gertrude Ophelia,
William Shakespeare's,
Eileen Herlie,
Ghost Claudius,
characters olivier,
gertrude hamlet's,
hamlet's mother,
leave heaven,
symbolic meanings,
gertrude hamlet's mother,
father's death,
mother ophelia,
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Acceptance Essays
