“To sleep, perchance to dream”
The camera moves up to Hamlets face on this section. This is to show the audience that his facial expressions in this section are important. In the next section of the speech the camera moves to King Hamlets tomb. The camera has done this to emphasise the fact that King Hamlet is dead and Hamlet is talking about death. After this Hamlet says “Devoutly to be wished”. He takes up a praying pose. All the way through this scene Hamlet seems to be imitating the words of the monologue in his actions.
In the next part we get the impression that Hamlet is trying to picture the image he is describing. This is because he shuts his eyes and we can see his eyes flickering as if he could see an image that his mind is producing.
After this Hamlet circles his fathers tomb before slumping against the side of it. In this part of the monologue Hamlet speaks very slowly and passionately. Towards the end of the speech the camera takes up a medium close up on Hamlet, scans around the tomb again.
When Hamlet says “Pale cast of thought” he moves into a ray of light, changing the way the light falls onto his face. It is at this point in the speech that Hamlet decides against killing himself. The light on his face could represent the contrast between death and life that Hamlet has just been speaking about. The way Zefirelli has used this ray of light could be looked at in two different ways. One is that Hamlet is moving closer and closer towards the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. When he steps out of the light it is as if he has resisted the temptation to kill himself. Another way of looking at this section is to think that the light is Hamlet escaping from the evil he has been thinking about.
There is no music in the scene as this gives Hamlets voice a chance to echo around the room creating a different effect from if there was music in the background. This echoing effect creates the idea that Hamlet has an empty mind.
This speech starts off quietly and builds up to anger and shouting at the end. The footsteps which echo round the room symbolise that life goes on and that we will keep walking, whatever our conscience tells us.
In the Kenneth Brannagh version (1996) Hamlet is stood in front of a mirror, framed by the mirror. The walls of the room are white with a black and white chequered pattern on the floor. This creates the contrast of dark against light, good against evil that we see in this scene. The lighting throughout this scene is very light and the room is very well lit. This adds to the contrast of the speech with the surroundings. Hamlet is talking about death and darkness in a white, light room.
In the beginning of this scene the camera frames Hamlet in the mirror. We the see a door open revealing that the mirror Hamlet is looking into is a two way mirror. The way Hamlet speaks is very static and quiet. He is stood in a very rigid, upright position. The first time he moves is in the lines:
“Or to take arms against a sea of troubles”
In this line he raises his arm. He then moves closer to the mirror and we get a clearer picture of the room he is in. This is because the camera moves to allow a wider angle. This lets the mirror reflect the other doors, windows and other mirrors in the room.
In the lines:
“With a bare bodkin: who would fardels bear,”
Hamlet draws his dagger and points it at the reflection of himself in the mirror. There is then a quick cut to Claudius looking alarmed in the other room. This is shown because the other characters can see Hamlet through the mirror. This shot allows the audience to see how the other characters have reacted to Hamlets actions.
After this section we hear faint music in the background with a muted drum performing a drum roll on the timpani drums. The faint music sounds like battle music. This could be because Hamlet mind is in two states. They are conflicting against each other. Therefore the battle music resembles this. This contrasts to the beginning of the scene where the room was in silence. This silence adds more dramatic impact to the scene. The music draws to a stop with the sound of Ophelia’s footsteps.
The silent movements add texture to the scene and speech. It also brings certain parts of the speech to the foreground of the audiences attention. Although Hamlets speech was spoken in a whisper, this technique added to the impact of this scene as it made it feel like the speech is being spoken in Hamlets mind.
The speech is spoken to a well paced rhythm. This gives it a sense of fluidity and creates the image that Hamlet needs a rhythm in his life.
In the Laurence Olivier version of Hamlet the camera retreats up a spiral staircase from Ophelia at the bottom. We know that in the play, Shakespeare had put these two scenes in a different order. The camera twists and turns in the darkness and eventually emerges looking into the bright sky. The music in this scene is loud and dramatic, using scaleic notes to emphasise the image of the camera retreating up the stairs. It then tilts to focus on the sea, and eventually looks at the back of Hamlets head. There is then a soft focus dissolve where the camera fades out the shot slowly using the focus. We then see a shot of the waves crashing on the walls of the castle. In this beginning section of the scene we learn a lot about the nature of the speech. We can hear from the music that the speech is dramatic and full of mixed emotions and feelings. The way the music and the camera twist and turn suggests that Hamlets mind is distorted and unclear.
In the lines
“To be or not to be”
the waves intercut with Hamlets eyes. This gives the impression that his mind is restless like the sea. We can hear the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks. This gives the impression that Hamlet’s thoughts are disorderly and that he is confused about what he is feeling.
In the lines:
“And by opposing end them: to die to sleep;
No more; and by sleep, to say we end”
Hamlet draws his dagger and closes his eyes. This gives us the impression that he is thinking about killing himself, which is what these lines in the speech mean.
His voice then becomes internalised as if he were thinking the speech rather than saying it. In the lines: “Perchance to dream” we hear dramatic music in the background and some dramatic movements. Hamlet then opens his eyes. This gives the impression that he has suddenly come out if his train of thought.
We then see Hamlet centre screen sat on a rock with the sky behind him. We can see the clouds passing by behind him giving the impression that although Hamlet is considering the pro’s and con’s of life and death, the world is carrying on.
As Hamlet says “Ay, there’s the rub” he lowers his dagger, reclines backwards leaning over the side of the wall. We can hear the sound of the waves again as the music has stopped.
The next few lines are connected by Hamlets movements. He then says
“Bare bodkin”
as he raises his dagger, he then moves forwards towards the camera, pauses, then drops the dagger. We see the dagger plunge to the sea, making the audience think Hamlet has ‘dropped’ the idea of killing himself.
The camera then turns to Hamlet, only this time it frames him in a profile. Towards the end of the scene Hamlet moves towards the edge of the platform with the camera following. He then turns his back towards the camera and walks away from the shot, disappearing off screen.
This speech is spoken very fluently and is well articulated. This creates the image that Hamlet is a very well spoken person, who, in this scene, is very out of character.
I think that the Franco Zefirelli version has the biggest impact on the audience out of the three versions. This is because the dialogue is spoken very emotively and with feeling. Hamlet is played by Mel Gibson. He has taken time in capturing the way Hamlet would move in this scene. All the movements fit well with the speech and the lighting and camera effects add to the dramatic impact of the scene. The misé en scene in this scene is very well chosen. Hamlet is in the Crypt of the castle and this makes the scene seem more realistic than the other two versions.
The Lawrence Olivier and Kenneth Brannagh films do not have as bigger impact on the audience. This is because they are set in brightly lit places, this speech is about death, the audience relate dark rooms to death more than they do a well lit area.
If I were to create this scene using the ideas from these directors I would use the music from the Olivier version as it adds a greater sense of unclear thoughts and mixed emotions. I would set the scene in a dark area as the speech has a content which is ‘dark’ and evil. The lighting I would use would be minimal as the room/area needs to be dark, but Hamlets face would need to be emphasised to show his facial expression.
The actor would move as in the Zefirelli version as I feel this adds the most dramatic effect to the scene. The actor would speak the scene with feeling like in the Olivier version as I think this adds more emphasis on certain important words in the speech.
