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Summary Hamlet - A05 Interpretations
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Interpretations of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet, which makes up A05 in the OCR paper in part b.
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PRODUCTIONS:1. (1948) Director: Laurence Olivier, Hamlet: Laurence Olivier
a. Sets up psychoanalytic reading by flashing text on screen first - the one
character flaw that can ruin a man ('So oft it chances in particular men ... take
corruption / From that particular fault. 'This is the tragedy of a man who could
not make up his mind') is spoken beforehand.
b. The Ghost doesn't appear in 3.4 (Hamlet looks more mad)
c. Hamlet is melancholic and Romantic and thinks a lot (staring off into the
distance)
d. Oedipus complex vibes → actor playing Gertrude hardly looks older than
Olivier and they kiss very passionately in 3.4 - which is also set in a bedroom
with a bed not just a closet
e. Completely cuts Fortinbras - no external pressure and therefore the play can
just be about thinking
2. (1980) Director: Richard Eyre, Hamlet: Jonathan Price
a. Price, playing Hamlet, spoke the lines of both the Ghost and Hamlet; the
Ghost never appeared on stage
3. (1996) Director: Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet: Kenneth Branagh
a. Presents 1.2 very performatively with the whole court visible; Gertrude is
wearing a white dress, which highlights how soon the wedding came after
King Hamlet's death
b. Ophelia wears a straightjacket and gets subjected to water torture
c. There are mirrored walls and doors in the castle, showing concealment and
corruption.
d. Fortinbras has dark hair and strong eyebrows and a neat goatee - a put
together character and therefore a more threatening political enemy; in
multiple shots, he's aggressively planning a takeover with a map and shit.
e. Fortinbras is very aggressive and appears to assault and conquer Elsinor →
he either breaks or throws wide open every mirrored wall and door and pulls
down Old King Hamlet's statue (symbolically ridding Elsinore of corruption)
f. There are multiple flashbacks where short videos of Ophelia and Hamlet
having sex are played on screen.
4. (2000) Director: Michael Almereyda, Hamlet: Ethan Hawke
a. Ophelia is given a wire when going to talk to Hamlet (surveillance)
b. Hamlet is very much a teenage boy who spends lots of time in his room
(isolated from family) watching video footage of his late father (constantly
grieving and remembering his father)
5. (2004) Director: Trevor Nunn, Hamlet: Ben Whishaw
a. Portrays Claudius' crime as born out of love for Gertrude rather than for greed
for the Danish throne → more sympathetic
b. Whishaw was only 23 when he played Hamlet and played him in an
understated way: no melodramatic gestures, much more frail and vulnerable,
as conveyed through his voice and eyes
c. Imogen Stubbs plays Gertrude and she's an alcoholic
, d. Samantha Whittaker plays Ophelia like a mischievous schoolgirl whose
madness born out of grief seems insincere.
6. (2009) Director: Gregory Doran, Hamlet: David Tennant
a. Laertes is shown to have a condom in his luggage after lecturing Ophelia
about chastity - shows hypocritical nature.
b. Polonius played as a prattling old fool, who is gentle & passive
c. Claudius played as a silent, calm, calculated killer; after the Mousetrap,
instead of becoming hysterical in response to when Hamlet indirectly accuses
him of his crime, he is calm and shakes his head, as if to give a warning
d. Tennant portrays a much more serious Hamlet who people appear to be
afraid of
e. Gertrude is sometimes drunk and is physically obsessed with Claudius
f. ‘Too too sullied flesh' soliloquy → starts crouching hunched over and hiding
face; looks directly at the camera → wipes tears off as court comes in on line
"for I must hold my tongue" (emphasises how he must hide his emotions,
potentially because of the constant surveillance)
g. Hamlet realises he's being listened to in 3.1 ('Get thee to a nunnery') - focus
on surveillance
h. Starts 5.2 with 'There's a divinity that shapes our ends' (emphasising Hamlet's
transfer of responsibility to God); Hamlet says this looking into a shattered
mirror - self-reflection?
i. In Greg Doran's rehearsals, the actors decided that Osric is a 'political flunkie'
– an ambitious young employee of the court, hoping to impress Claudius.
They used clothes to convey this – the production is in modern dress so the
designer used clothes that a modern audience quickly understands as
conveying ambition and business: a sharp suit, slick haircut and shiny shoes!
(like an intern).
7. (2010) Director: Nicholas Hytner, Hamlet: Rory Kinnear
a. Ghost is visible in Act 1 Scene 1 → white shirt and makeup (not armour), very
pale, white hair, tattered dark jacket and dark trousers - less threatening
✨
b. 1.2 Claudius and Gertrude's address to the court (until "for all, our thanks") is
✨
like a royal news broadcast → touched up hair and makeup and Polonius
(?) holds a script in front of Claudius ; Claudius paused and checked that
everyone in the court was listening between saying "for let the world take
note" and "You are the most immediate to our throne" - VERY
PERFORMATIVE
c. 1.3 Polonius has surveillance photos of Ophelia and Hamlet together
d. 1.5 microphone on Ghost gives its voice an echo; Ghost reaches out to
Hamlet and he tries to hold its hand; Hamlet is scared of the Ghost and tries
to run away from the Ghost, ending up on the floor
8. (2016) Director: Simon Godwin, Hamlet: Paapa Essiedu
a. Very lively with traditional African singing, drumming.
b. The Ghost has a costume.
c. The audience first sees Hamlet crying.
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