Daros Koding NAD U6
Criticism of Mel Gibson’s Hamlet; How well did he maintain the character?
The aspects of Hamlet’s character that Mel Gibson “played up”, in the movie production in which Gibson was acting in, were the characteristics of Hamlet’s strong affections for his mother, Gertrude, along with his subsequent hatred and deep resentment of his step-father, Claudius. Also, his fear and subservient reverence for the ghost of his late father, his scholarly, perceptive, sometimes introspective mind, and his charisma, to the extent of the Castle Ellsinore, for the people’s love for him is mentioned in a few instances, but there is not much advancement on this apparent love, or what Hamlet himself did to be awarded it, save a few laughs at jokes he makes.
Gibson plays the Hamlet afflicted with the oedipal complex quite blatantly. This passionate affection is displayed in many of the scenes between Hamlet and his mother, as they are very physical with each other, more so than in a normal mother-and-son relationship, with a lot of touching faces with their hands, and full-lip kissing. In the ‘pictures’ scene (III.4) Hamlet becomes very indecently physical with his mother, almost as if he is raping her. I personally felt that the oedipal aspect had been taken a bit too far at that point, but those actions did serve to illustrate that Hamlet may indeed have been confused in the context of sexuality, or it may have helped to emphasize the fact that Hamlet is indeed mad, if you chose to take that stance towards his character. This oedipal aspect of Hamlet’s character was probably derived from the text, by Gibson, the many references to Claudius and Gertrude in bed and the many sexual allusions he makes when he thinks or talks about them.
