Post – Viewing Task - HAMLET

HAMLET

Post – Viewing Task

(1)How faithful is the movie to the original play?

As a student of literature, there is always

controversy between book v/s movie. Reading of book gives chance to enter in our own imagination while movie brings a particular image in front of us. Though adaptations of movie helps us to understand the book in a far better way. While director transforms book to the movie it’s a form of translation in various approaches like words to screen this transformation is itself the biggest transformation. Kenneth Branagh is one of the most a Northern Irish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. In the movie HAMLET, Though he has made several changes  it can be considered as quite appropriate changes and as text remains line-by-line faithful to the text- HAMLET by Shakespeare.

Major Changes
	Shakespeare's HAMLET	Kenneth Branagh's HAMLET
Setting	12th century Denmark	18th century Elsinore castle
Costume	12th century	19th century Victorian costume
Opening & ending	Begins with bitter darkness and also ending with dead march	Also starts with bitter darkness and also ending with dead march but Kenneth Branagh has made a unique symbol of King HAMLET'S statue. The movie opens with standing statue of King Hamlet in bitter darkness which is destroyed at the last scene of movie.

Thus, Movie is verbally faithfull to the original play. Though Kenneth Branagh has made several changes, these changes are quite appropriate and for coming out from illusion in which setting he unfolds story & in which influence Shakespeare has written the play.

(2)Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

If literature has no aesthetic delight, it is not literature at all. Doesn't matter  if something has "aesthetic value," it has value as a work of art or even if nobody will pay much for it. Kenneth Branagh 's movie HAMLET asthetically pleases to us. HAMLET - MONALISA OF LITERATURE, character of HAMLET quite attractive than other characters. To be or not to be, that is the question and We know what we are, but we don't know what we may be! Hamlet's philosophy, his soliloquies and madness, madness of Ophelia reaches to our heart. Nunnery scene - Words, words, words! &.            That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain Universality which is described is an unique. Though it is revenge tragedy, lots of quotes and wonderful soliloquies are there. Nunnery scene and madness of Ophelia gives much pleasure to me. In the very beginning, shakespeare puts satire in the words of Hamlet that, Frailty, thy name is woman." Represents christian superstition in which woman are portrayed as siners or man's perpetual destroyer as in Dr. Faustus.

Thus, Kenneth Branagh's Ophelia's madness's scene & nunmery scene gives me unbounded joy in which Kenneth Branagh has also made it beautiful by his own creative art as a director.

(3)Do you feel ‘catharsis’ while or after watching movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

Compassion and fear begin to accumulate and reach heights from the very beginning, and by the end this ice-free frozen sphere melts. My purging emotions get released throughout the movie twice. First, when she gets made and other at the end of the movie where Hamlet and Leartes are fighting & we already know that Polonius and Leartes have planned to kill Hamlet & pity is that once Hamlet had chance to kill Polonius but as he is philosopher, he hadn't kill Polonius. Here, my catharsis get purged with the death of our tragic hero who himself never wants to yake revenge but his father- KING HAMLET who wants to take revenge and it's coast pays many other especially Ophelia, Gertude and Polonius, Rosancrantz & Guidenstern, Leartes incuding Hamlet himself!

(4)Does screening of movie help you in better understanding of the play?

Reading gives us unbounded charm of visulization but audio-visulization helps far better to understand anything. Reading twice and watching once are equal. Reading soliloquies and its transformation in movie as monologue is somehow very interesting. Reading the madness of Ophelia and watching its acting in Kenneth Branagh's movie is one of the most interesting and helps us yo understand far better & clear. Nunnery scene is one of the greatest scene in the play and one can easily find crystal clear analysis that when we read Shakespeare's Hamlet's words, "Words, words, words!" & Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet's words, "Words, words, wo..r...ds.! How he pronounces this is more important and gives the extend feeling to umderstand Shakespeare's one of the greatest tragedy HAMLET.

(5)Was there any particular scene or moment in the movie that you will cherish lifetime?

The whole film is artistically the best.  The director -Kenneth Branagh has made this film by pouring his devotion in order to get full justice for each character.  Every dialogue as if it was speaking to the eye and no film before the eyes but it seems as if the event was happening to itself.  This is why the whole film attracts us emotionally.  Nevertheless, the final scene of the madness of Ophelia and Hamlet, where it is given respect like a soldier is touched to the depths of the heart as it is woven into the scene, in a lively and lifelong look.

(6)  If you are director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of movie on Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’?

The idea of ​​making a remake of a masterpiece of a great dramatist like Shakeaspeare can only be considered too big.  Nonetheless, the director has tried very well and achieved a great deal of artistic success. Even though there are irrelevant dialogues in the play, in some places the dialogue seems to be divert, but one reason may be that the Kenneth Branaghhas constantly tried to stick to Shakespeare's original text.

(7)In the beginning of the movie, camera rolls over the statue of King Hamlet out side the Elsinore castle. The movie ends with the similar sequence wherein the statue of the King Hamlet is hammered down to the dust. What sort of symbolism do you read in this? (Clue: In Book IX of 'Paradise Lost', Satan reflects on his revenge motive:       "But what will not ambition andrevenge; Descend to? Who aspires must down as low; As high he soared, obnoxious, first or last, To basest things.Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils." Is it not King Hamlet's ambition to avenge his death responsible for the downfall of his kingdom which is symbolically pictured in last scenes?)

Just as a writer tries to integrate his talk with his own time in any of his literary works, using new symbols in the same way, the director may also take adaptation  from Paste to make a film, but his remaking can overcome the pinnacle of success and universality only if the present-day overview is fulfilled.  Here the director proves this that HAMLET achieves success and eternity. Kenneth Branagh goes further than what Shakespeare has presented in renaissance medival time, and this proves this from the fall of KING HAMLET's STATUE.  The Elsinore castle is filled with corpses and King HAMLET's fall , in response to KING HAMLET's desire to take revenge. War can never be the solution to a puzzle because war itself is a puzzle.Kenneth Branagh has deliberately given out that the tendency to forgive is allways better than the spirit of revenge.

To illustrate this, let us take an example of a current movie, in BAHUBALI 2, where  Rajmauli also shows symbolic fall of statue. Here fall of statue actually symbolises fall of power.

(8)While studying the play through movie, which approach do you find more applicable to the play? Why? Give reasons with illustrations.

I think Psychological approach and feminism study are more applicable to the play because Hamlet's madness and overthinking of Hamlet is at the center throughout the play. Ophelia's madness also gives undoubtable unique impact upon us. To look futher feminine study is also applicalble for this as we look at the character of Ophelia and Gertude both became victims of male's desire.

(9)Which of the above mentioned approaches (in Pre-viewing task) appeals you more than other?Why? Give reasons.

While reading various approaches in pre-viewing task, feminism study attracts me much and more because woman are double marginalized! There is no need to go to the evidence to clarify this point.  Just looking around us, there are cases of weird things happening every day.  There is never desire to women need to be given higher status, but the status of women, but the veil over which the masculine mentality has been covered needs to be removed, and for this reason the feminism study appeals more to me.