How does Zeffirelli portray the characters of Gertrude and Ophelia?
How does Zeffirelli portray the characters of Gertrude and Ophelia? Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 production of Hamlet has Glenn Close and Helena Bonham Carter cast as Queen Gertrude and Ophelia respectively. He has the luxury over a stage production of being able to add scenery, mood and vibrant close up of character to his film. These added advantages allow us to examine the players in a closer, more intimate way and so we can look at the figures of Queen Gertrude and Ophelia with different perspective. Right from the start the audience most definitely depicts Gertrude as the queen and the primary female of the cast, however there is no malice or grim intention portrayed. We open the film feeling sorry for her at her husband's funeral yet the speed of her re-marriage makes us question her morality and quality. The audience is made to question her character by her physical nature both with Claudius and Hamlet, particularly with Hamlet. Their relationship is portrayed as intensely Freudian, from the very beginning with Gertrude constantly touching Hamlet. Zeffirelli dresses Gertrude in a gown with a simple pale design yet trimmed with gold and subtle jewellery and her hair is worn like a regal crown, always perfect and obviously made by attendants. Herein we see her position but unlike other plays her queenly status is not overbearing. Zeffirelli quite obviously dressing
Explore the "loving mother-son" relationship between Gertrude and Hamlet, with focus on language.
Ramya Sr. 4 D Q. Explore the "loving mother-son" relationship between Gertrude and Hamlet, with focus on language. Ans. Very evident in Hamlet is the "loving mother-son" relationship between Queen Gertrude and Prince Hamlet. Their mutual affection for each other can be seen right from the first act when they address each other as "Good Hamlet" and "good mother". This seems rather polite and formal but shows their deep underlying love for each other. However as the play progresses and Hamlet learns through the ghost of his father the truth about his uncle (whom his mother has married), the actual intensity of the mother-son relationship is brought out. This happens as Hamlet learns of his father's murder. Our first impression of Hamlet sets the tone for the whole play. Even without Shakespeare providing an elaborate description of Hamlet's features, we can imagine his pale face, tousled hair, intense, brooding eyes. Dressed totally in black, Hamlet displays all the 'forms, moods and shapes of grief'. His speech is punctuated with harsh sounding words and he repeats the 'd' sound often with words like " dead, sullied, windy, dejected, denote". This shows his extreme despair. Gertrude, as his mother, cannot help but notice Hamlet's outward appearance of mourning, but Hamlet makes it clear that the outward signs of grief do not come close to conveying how much sorrow he
Explore the way Shakespeare presents the relationships between Hamlet and his Mother, Gertrude, making particular reference to Act III Scene. IV
Explore the way Shakespeare presents the relationships between Hamlet and his Mother, Gertrude, making particular reference to Act III Scene. IV In the Play, the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is presented in various different ways. One critical point in the play where their presentation can be fully analysed is Scene IV, of Act III. The 'closet scene' as it is known, is one of the dramatic climaxes of the play. It is the only time we see Hamlet alone with his mother. Apart from a brief exchange during 'the Mousetrap' this is the first conversation since Act 1 Scene II. The scene begins as a repeat of the 'nunnery' episode (Act III Scene I) with Polonius eavesdropping and Gertrude refusing to communicate with her son. Again, as before, with the exception of Ophelia, Hamlet is now talking to somebody with whom he was once very close, but has now been deliberately separated from. Hamlet enters the scene with great antagonism, as he has just returned from Claudius praying, Gertrude's Husband and Hamlet's stepfather, and of course his Uncle. Hamlet's intentions were to kill Claudius as he prayed, so his intentions when entering this scene are not much different than before. His wrath towards Claudius is still at its worst, so Hamlet is prepared to kill him at any chance, thus he kills Polonius instead. The place in which this scene is situated is very important to
Hamlet - It's hard to define what revenge actually is.
Hamlet Essay It's hard to define what revenge actually is. I suppose Francis Bacon put it best in his essay about revenge, 'Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out'. In a 'Revenge Play', normally, the whole play is based on the revenge and it is combined with tragedy. In this case, they are combined to cause a big problem for Hamlet. In this essay, I will examine this problem. There are very different characters in Hamlet; they all seem to have their own problems. Hamlet's problem is the main focus of the play but we are also made aware of the other characters problems. At the end of the play, we see the finale in which all the characters come together to end the lives of others. They think that it will solve their problems. So, therefore I think that the characters are the main problem in this play. I think that Hamlet's character is unsuited to this play. He is not a 'revenger'. We can tell this in Act 1, Scene 5 when the ghost tells Hamlet to take his revenge on Claudius. He questions whether he should 'what else? And shall I couple hell?' if he was a revenger then he would rush to Claudius and kill him straight away. We can also see this in what Hamlet does. He tries to scare the king by acting out 'The murder of Gonzago' in a similar way to how Claudius killed Hamlets father. He does this so he can be
Role of women in hamlet
The Role of Women in Hamlet We live in a society where women have rights that were unheard of centuries ago. These rights include the right to driving freely, having jobs rather than staying at home, and being treated with the same respect as men in the workplace. But in Shakespeare's play Hamlet women have a role that is mainly passive in that the men in Hamlet hold a higher position than women and are treated in a manner that would be labelled as misogyny today in that women are only seen as objects rather than human. In Hamlet there are only two women who have a significant role in the play: Gertrude and Ophelia. Gertrude role in Hamlet is one that is a loving mother that does care for her son but also raises her selfish ambition above everyone else and tries to reconfigure her family around her new husband Claudius. Ophelia role in Hamlet consists of being one-dimensional and stagnant, that soon crumbles after the death of her father due to her frailty and innocence. During the first scene of book, Hamlet recalls scene between his mother and father and the love and affection they possessed before his father passed away. He then becomes disgusted over the fact his mother quickly married off a man instead of being with her son. The fact that this man was her deceased husband brother makes Hamlet disgust his mom even more. He feels his mother is weak in many aspects
Is Hamlet acting or is he really insane?
Hamlets confrontation with Gertrude leaves her questioning her son's sanity. This is because she attests to him talking to thin air, which he claims was his father's ghost (3,4). It seems like Gertrude has every right to think Hamlet is mad. Her judgement is also fuelled by Polonius' murder. Hamlet did not know that Polonius was the spy behind the curtains 'how now, a rat?' (3,4,24). Hamlets response to his mother is not full of love either. He is disgusted with his mother's actions and is not ashamed of letting her know. '...Live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed...' he does not hid his hatred for Claudius and Gertrude's marriage. But Gertrude does not seem to understand why her son holds such strong feelings. She is clueless throughout most of the play. 'As kill a king?' Gertrude does not realise the real situation and how much hatred the two men bare. She is one of the reasons that stopped Claudius getting hamlet killed throughout the play. And when he finally decides to, she dies before both of them. Gertrude is not the only woman in Hamlets life. He also confronted his lover Ophelia, where he came across as-yet again- misogynist. However, we cannot condemn Hamlet to hating women because we only see him two in the play. Ophelia rejected him and his mother married his uncle. But this is not surprising because Hamlet distrusts everyone and tries to push everyone away,
Hamlet Essay
In this essay I'm going to consider the relationship between Hamlet and three other characters from the play, Claudius, Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) and Ophelia. I think these characters determine Hamlet's moods and actions strongly. Hamlet doesn't seem to have a close relationship with any of the major characters in the play. He is actually quite isolated from the people around him. Throughout this essay I'm going to consider how Hamlet's relationships with Claudius, Gertrude and Ophelia change. At the start of the play Hamlet's father dies. His father's brother then marries his mother. Then Hamlet sees his father's ghost, who tells him about how he was murdered. Hamlet is determined to get revenge. He is so angry he practically breaks up with Ophelia by hurling insults and shouting at her. He then asks a group of travelling actors to perform the scene of his father's death in front of the King and Queen. Afterwards in the Queen's bedroom Hamlet stabs Polonius, who is hiding behind the curtain, by accident, thinking it was Claudius. Ophelia starts going a bit mad and later on Hamlet finds her dead in a stream. The play ends tragically with the death of Hamlet, the Queen, the King and Laertes. In many ways Hamlet and Claudius are very similar characters. They are both very determined and will go to any lengths to get what they want. We can see this characteristic in Claudius
Why does Hamlet still matter?
Why does Hamlet still matter? Rebecca Glover ________________ The play Hamlet composed by William Shakespeare approximately 400 years ago, remains relevant to the contemporary world due to its philosophical contemplations of the human condition, and what it is to be human. Hamlet explores the transience of life, and the consequences madness has in regard to suicidal tendencies and whether it is best “to be or not to be”. Further, Shakespeare integrates the concept of the revenge, tragedy, a factor Hamlet is renowned for; and the physical and psychological obstacles such a deceit one must conquer in their ultimate search for the truth, elements which remain pertinent to society today. Shakespeare’s exploration of the complexity of the human condition is explored through his main character Hamlet’s divided consciousness, and the perpetual calculations of how he sees himself, or how others perceived him to be; all of which are notions present in the adolescent members of society today. It is through the exploration of themes such as filial relationships, Hamlet’s self-perception in regards to his inaction of revenge, Shakespeare’s soliloquies and various literary and drama techniques which demonstrate this to the contemporary audience. Hamlet is contacted by his associates; Bernardo, Marcellus
'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark' - At the end of the play, how might an audience have decided what this 'something' is and why it is 'rotten'.
Rebecca 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.' At the end of the play, how might an audience have decided what this 'something' is and why it is 'rotten'. Marcellus comments that something is rotten in Act One scene four, after Hamlet has seen the ghost for the first time and has departed to talk to it. In a short space of time, Marcellus has seen the ghost of the old King in arms and Hamlet, the heir apparent to the Danish throne airing his suicidal tendencies. Horatio his fellow officer of the watch has similar foreboding and morbid thoughts 'This bodes some strange eruption to our state.' Primarily this would appear to be the situation of Denmark as it prepares for war with the Norwegians, but could be a prophecy similar to Marcellus's that this would bode badly for their nation state. Wilson Knight wrote that if we were to see the world through Hamlet's eyes, we would find: 'Claudius as the blackest of criminals, Gertrude as an adulteress, Polonius as a fool and Ophelia as a deceit and decoy'1 Certainly at the climax and conclusion of the play this would appear satisfactory to an audience as an answer as to 'what is rotten?' but there are other issues which change the situation. Claudius is corrupt; he has committed fratricide, and reaped the rewards of doing so. We never learn why Claudius murdered his brother, but the reasons could be numerous. It
Explore how Shakespeare examines the theme of revenge in Hamlet.
Explore how Shakespeare examines the theme of revenge in Hamlet. By Nicola Carruthers The theme of revenge is consistent throughout Hamlet. The play is specifically a revenge tragedy and it became extremely popular during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. A dictionary definition of Revenge is defined as 'Retaliation for an injury or wrong' or 'the desire to inflict such retaliation'. In the case of Hamlet, the protagonist attempts to inflict revenge upon the antagonist Claudius, his uncle who murders Hamlet's father the king for the throne, through many attempts he takes it upon himself to avenge the death of his father but continually puts it off until he has reassurance to the obvious 'planned' death throughout the play. Not only is revenge seen in the title character but it is shown in the characters of Fortinbras and Laertes, who like Hamlet, were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers. Aspects of the Revenge tragedy are also linked to the Roman Senecan model. Senecan tragedy originated from the roman stoic philosopher and politician L. Annaeus Senecan who wrote 8 of the 10 dramas. They are usually about a secret murder. Following the theme of revenge upon the murder of someone of high class such as a member of the royal family by a 'bad guy' the antagonist of the play. The model also involves a ghostly visitation of the victim to a younger member of the
