hamlet: critical interpretations

Question 1

garrick, 1763

Answer 1

• cut hamlet’s cruel treatment of ophelia from the play as they were deemed to be ‘tasteless’
• brought the play back into popular favour

Question 2

olivier, 1948

Answer 2

• a luxurious canopied bed was used in act 3 scene 4, and hamlet behaves like gertrude’s lover, a central image of the film, suggesting gertrude’s centrality to the play & her sexual appetite
• polonius is very controlling of ophelia

Question 3

branagh, 1996

Answer 3

• members of the court wear red whereas hamlet wears black — deliberately set up to resemble a chess game
• statues of old hamlet
• flashbacks before old hamlet died of old hamlet and gertrude flirting

Question 4

eyre, 1970

Answer 4

• deliberately cut the first scene out of the play so that no one except hamlet saw the ghost, emphasising his madness
• possessed by the ghost of old hamlet, so he speaks both lines

Question 5

tennant, 2010

Answer 5

• claudius physically retches during the “my offence is rank” scene
• hamlet attempts to strangle guildenstern with a recorder during the “you cannot play upon me” scene

Question 6

cumberbatch, 2015

Answer 6

• in the second half of the play, the stage becomes a pile of dust and rubbish — suggests the state of claudius’ reign

Question 7

scott, 2018

Answer 7

• ophelia is seen as the victim, e.g. she is brought out on stage in a wheelchair

Question 8

icke, 2017

Answer 8

• claudius conducts diplomatic business via skype - modern twist on convention which reinforces his role as politician
• polonius is constantly wired up so that he can report the latest news of hamlet’s mental state
• hamlet himself eavesdrops on claudius and gertrude’s post-honeymoon canoodling
• hand-held cameras track elsinore’s leaders on all public occasions