James Schulz
Dr. Paul Gleason
English 327
December 8, 2008
Hamlet
A Character Comparison / Contrast from the Movie to Part Acted
Introduction
This paper will compare and contrast the soliloquy; Mel Gibson performs in the movie Hamlet, to the same soliloquy I performed in Act one, Scene two of the play on Thursday evening, November 20th, in the Schroeder Auditorium at Cardinal Stritch University. It will address Mel Gibson’s performance, what I learned from studying his approach, how it differed from my approach, and look at similarities and/or differences of our interpretations.
Mel Gibson’s Performance
For some reason, when I think of Mel Gibson, the last character I think of him portraying is a Shakespearian character such as Hamlet. To my surprise, I felt that Gibson did a fairly good job portraying Hamlet.
The soliloquy in the movie, where Hamlet expresses his feeling toward his mother’s marriage to his uncle after his father’s death is quite powerful. It is quite obvious that Hamlet is very unhappy with his mother’s decision (let’s say pissed) and he obviously doesn’t approve of the marriage at all.
As you watch Gibson while he is performing this soliloquy, the tone in his voice is quite convincing, he definitely disapproves of what his mother has done. Gibson’s tone doesn’t simply state the disapproval; the disgust seems to flow out of him in a very convincing manner. As you listen, Gibson starts out somewhat slow and his disgust doesn’t seem that strong. But, very shortly after he begins, his anger increases, and by the end of the soliloquy it’s not very difficult to detect a strong tone of disgust.
Even Gibson’s facial features depict disgust. At the beginning of the soliloquy, his eyes seem to show disbelief. It’s like he’s looking at heaven and asking why such a thing could happen. A short time later, Gibson’s eyes just seem to glare and you can see that he has rage in him. He gave me the feeling that if someone would walk in while he was elaborating on his mother’s decision to marry his uncle he would tear them apart, very much like the part when Hamlet was in a rage and kills Polonius behind the curtain. Gibson’s facial features are very convincing and it gives the viewer the feeling that no explanation in the world would convince him to justify what his mother has done.
The setting and blocking for this soliloquy is interesting and appropriate. Hamlet is in a secluded area of the castle and he is by himself. He obviously doesn’t want anyone else to know his feelings and he is venting to himself. Although he is by himself, he does move freely around the area, and he uses the window to glaze out over the courtyard to watch the happenings between his mother and his uncle. It appears the more affection he sees his mother show toward his uncle, the more agitated he becomes and the disgust increases.
As for directing of the movie Hamlet, Franco Zeffirelli only uses approximately half of the soliloquy from the original play. Why did Zeffirelli choose to do this and not use the entire piece? By using only half of the soliloquy, it does change things to a certain degree. At the end of the soliloquy, in the original play, Hamlet states: “Break my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (Shakespeare 15). Obviously in the original play, as disgusted as Hamlet is, he is still very respectful toward his mother and he will opt to keep his mouth shut, rather than to disrespect his mother’s wishes. By not presenting this part of the soliloquy in the movie, a person may get the feeling Hamlet doesn’t respect his mother, and that he will not stay silent. All in all, I feel that Zeffirelli does a good job directing the movie version of Hamlet, yet I wonder why he would eliminate approximately half of a soliloquy. I feel if Zeffirelli would have chosen to do the entire soliloquy it could have enhanced Gibson’s anger toward his mother’s decisions. By omitting such lines as: “Ere yet the salt of most righteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, she married, O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Shakespeare 16), it seems to take away some of Hamlet’s true feelings toward his mother.
It was discussed in class that directors have various reasons for omitting or changing scenes. But now, I am really curious as to why so much would have been left out of this soliloquy. Personally, I feel that Zeffirelli may have wanted to show that Hamlet wasn’t as respectful to his mother, as the original play portrays him.
My Performance
Never in my wildest imagination, did I ever think that I would be performing Shakespeare. First of all, I want to make it quite clear that I’m no Mel Gibson, but I feel confident enough to say that I felt that the reading of the soliloquy went quite well.
I knew that the soliloquy needed to be read with a disgusted tone to my voice. Hamlet was angry and disgusted with his mother and that needed to be expressed when reading the part, just like Gibson did in the movie. I realized just how hard it was to act out anger and make sure you get the right tone to express that feeling. Even after using Gibson as an example, the first couple times I read through the soliloquy, I tended to just read words, even though, I thought I was reading in a way that expressed anger and disgust. In reality, there was no feeling; I was indeed just reading words. Our coach Charlie and director Andy both noted that I should put more feeling of anger and disgust into what I was presenting. Around the same time that I was rehearsing the soliloquy, I found out that my son-in law was abusing our daughter. I had a lot of anger built up in me regarding my son-in-law, very much like Hamlet had built up in him, regarding his mother. Practicing my tone, using the anger I felt toward my son-in-law, worked well to help me gain the anger and disgusted tone that I needed to successfully read the part. Without that disgusted tone, the soliloquy just hangs there and goes no where.
I wanted to make sure that my facial features expressed disgust too. Like Gibson, I tried to have a disgusted expression on my face, so I would look up with my eyes to express how I couldn’t believe what was happening. Because I was to stand in one place and not move around the stage, the use of the picture frame took the place of the window and helped to reveal who I was angry at. I would clinch my knuckles around the picture frame to express anger with Hamlet’s mother, and I would glare at the frame like Gibson glared out the window at his mother.
Because we were only reading passages from Hamlet and not performing an entire scene from the play, blocking had to be handled a little differently. Our coach Charlie suggested that I just stand in one place to perform the soliloquy and not to move around on the stage. This was understandable because we were only reading one thing at a time and none of the passages from the other performers in our play group correlated with each other. As mentioned before, this is why I opted to use the picture frame to signify the anger toward Hamlet’s mother. Unlike Gibson, who moved freely around the room and looked out the window at his mother and uncle, I wanted the audience to have a feeling like I was looking at something, just like Gibson was viewing his mother and uncle from the window.
The one major change from the movie was the fact that I read the entire soliloquy instead of reading just half of it as they did in the movie. By reading only half of the soliloquy like they did in the movie, it would have left a void in the performance. Following Gibson’s choice of tone, I tried to utilize this tone throughout the entire soliloquy.
My main concern when reading this soliloquy was that the audience would not quite understand what was going on. Unless someone was very educated in Shakespeare, the audience had no idea what part of Hamlet this passage was from or even possibly who Hamlet was angry with. Unlike Gibson, who had just finished talking to his mother and started the soliloquy after she left. Following what had just transpired, you knew the soliloquy was directed toward his mother. I feel that some kind of introduction needed to be done before I performed the soliloquy. A brief introduction or some background leading to the part would have helped the audience to better understand what was going on. Someone from our play group could have started by saying: “Jim will be reading a soliloquy from Act one, Scene two. This soliloquy expresses Hamlet’s feelings toward is mother’s marriage to his uncle.”
Conclusion
I think it is safe to say that acting isn’t as easy as it may appear. Even using Gibson as a model to portray Hamlet, it still wasn’t easy. But, it did help to guide me and give me ideas as how to present the soliloquy. Besides following Gibson as a model, our play coach Charlie and the other play group members were equally helpful and supportive in helping to get the job done right. A very positive experience I will not forget for a long while.
Work Cited
Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. 1990. Videocassette.
Warner, 1991.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. A. R. Braunmuller. New York: Penguin, 2001.
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