Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Some may say that Hamlet paid the price for his inability to master passion before it was too late for him to avoid catastrophy. And others may say, Hamlet failed in that he did not survive to prove himself his father's son as ruler of Denmark, insisting that the very condition, which made inevitable his failure, especially his unwillingness to act without much thought, is the measure of his greatness. Therefore the Prince emerges finally as a sacrficial victim, one whose death is inevitable but which makes possible the purging of great evil and the restoration of a moral world.

Question #3: Whether or not Hamlet is "mad" or merely staging his "madness" his behavior created a chain of events that caused the death of a lot of people including himself, het he was honored in death as a hero. If Hamlet had substituted prompt action for the considerable verbalism in which he repeatedly berated himself for procrastination, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Laertes, and -most important- Hamlet himself would have survived. But then Shakespeare would not have achieved tragdy and the resulting work would have been no more than a boiling pot.

To be true to "thine own self" is to be true to the self of every man, that is, to the "divinity" which is the essence of every self, the "image of God" that is every man. This is Shakespeare's understanding of the basis of Christian Love- to "love thy neighbor as thyself". It is therefore the basis of Shakespeare's conception of regenerative mercy and Grace: to distinguish the person from the deed when the deed does not express the true person. Grace transforms man back to his "own self" and into harmony with the Divine Order. Had Hamlet applied this transformative principle to Claudius, and then the play would not have been a tragedy. But what Hamlet did do was "never Hamlet"; it was his ignorance of himself, his "madness", and his failure to be true to his own self. In this failure he fails to be true to Claudius also, by identifying Claudius with his deed. And where men's deeds are not the mirrors of his true self, then they are the deeds of some other power or principle foreign to him. This "foreign power" is Fate; the power that rules where man is estranged from himself. That is why Fortinbras exclaims, "Where is this sight?" when he enters, and later when he observes:

Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
(V. 11.406-40)

By "the field" Fortinbras means, ofcourse, the battlefield. But the battlefield is symbolic of the realm of Fate where disharmny, strife, and mutability reign, not true "kingship", Love, honor and Grace, symbolized in royalty and the royal court. But since these qualities have been negated, the royal court has become the battlefield of Fate, and thus the rightful kingdom of Fortinbras.

The play ends with the natural order reversed, with vengeance lord where Grace should rule, death where life should be. Horatio alone is spared, though he himself now sees death as true to his Roman nature:

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane.
Here's yet some liquor left.
(V. 11, 346-347)

Death, in Hamlet's eyes too, rmeains the only path to felicity, yet he would have Horatio live and show the world, by way of a forewarning, his tragic error:

Absent thee from felicity a while,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.
(V. 11,352-354)

I see the "madness" of all the characters in Branaugh's Hamlet as wearing masks that hide the image of God and their flight from sorrow, hiding that which is glorious and beautiful in their maleness and femaleness, their sexuality, desires and passions. Most of the main characters are trying to hide the damaged fallen part of their perversions, dark stories, thoughts and traumas, enjoying the pretense of being something other than themselves. The image of God and the perversion both exist within all of them, just as it does all of us in a fallen world.

Question #4: A major part of the enduring appeal of Hamlet lies in its complex characterization and twisty tragic plot. Hamlet can quite literally make you laugh and cry, hiss and cheer. It also contains a slew of famous lines, including but not limited to "frailty, thy name is woman!", "To thine ownself be true", "something is rotten in the state of Denmark", "Brevity is the soul of wit", "The plays the thing,", "The lady doeth protest too much", and of course, "To be or not to be, that is the question."

The peripheral issues of Hamlet are no less interesting. Fortinbras (Rufus Sewell) the nephew of the King of Norway, is massing armies to attack Denmark. Ophelia (Kate Winslet), Hamlet's lover, has been forbidden to have any further contact with the prince.A group of traveling actors has come to Elsinore. And two old school mates of Hamlet's have been employed by Claudius to betray their old friend. And of course the delightful performance by Billy Crystal as a gravedigger was great.

One of the things that Branagh brings to his adaptation of the play is an amazing visual sense. From start to finish, this is a stunningly beautiful film, filled with vibrant colors, startling camera angles, and costumes and production values that are among the best. Even if the story were weak (which it isn't), Hamlet would be worth seeing for its pure visual splendor. And, although the dress and settings are those of late-nineteenth century England, no part of the film seems anachronistic. Cinematically time-shifting Shakespeare's plays have become popular of late (see Iam McKellan's Richard III or the recent Romeo and Juliet, but Branagh has surpassed everyone. With dauntless attention to detail, Hamlet demands to be noticed.

Yet , even amidst the spectacle of the visual elements, the narrative is not upstaged. A key to great cinema is to use time and place to augment the story, and that's what Branagh accomplishes here. I was are not so enraptured by the stunning appeatance of Elsinore's terraced throne room that I ever lost sight of Hamlet's pain, Gertrude's uncertainty, Polonius' foolishness, or Claudius' guilt. From the wintery snow capes surrounding the castle to the desolation of a graveyard, the settings emphasize, but never overwhelm the action.

For his version of Hamlet, Branagh has assembled a top-notch international cast. Well-known actors like Charlton Heston (as the Player King) John Gielgud (Priam), Judi Dench(Hecuba), Billy Crystal (First Gravedigger), Gerard Depardieu (Reynaldo), Jack Lemmon (Marcellus), and Robin Williams (Osric)fill small roles. Most are adequate, and a few(Heston and Crystal) in particular are excellent. Robin Williams, affecting a silly accent and even sillier mannerisms, stands out as an obvious concession to commercial pressure. Williams is out-of-place, but his presence is only the smallest of blemishes on a wonderful production. It was also difficult for me to accept Jack Lemmon, with a Shakespearian accent, in his role as Marcellus.

The leads are all in peak form. Michael Maloney (Laertes) and Nicolas Farrell (Horatio), both of whom appeared in Branagh's A Midwinter's Tale, give strong performances. Richard Briers, another long-time collaborator of Branagh's, adds layers of guile and intelligence to his interpretation of the fatuous Polonius. Brain Blessed made fell the power and malevolence of the ghost. Julie Christie's wonderful Gertrude allowed me to understand why Claudius would resort to murder to win her. And Derek Jacobi's cultered, politically savvy, yet privately tortured Claudius is richly portrayed and worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Then there's Kenneth Branagh, the film's undisputed star. For Hamlet's calmer, quieter scenes (such as the soliloquies), Branagh brings a contemplative and introspective quality to his performances. But, for the emotionally rousing sequences, his interpretation is brash and forceful, drawing me into the pure drama of the situation and running chills up and down my spine. It's a marvelous portrayal that compliments those of the many other cast members.

continued on page 4

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copyright 2000 by Rebekah Johnston