HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR HAMLET?
Madman? Privileged drop-out?
The Man-who-would-have-been-king?
Examination of just three film actors in the role of Shakespeare's Hamlet since the 1990s (Branagh, Hawke, Tennant) reveals distinctly different approaches to casting and portraying the prince.
Kenneth Branagh:
It is easy to imagine Branagh as a prince who could have made a good king, and that Claudius "Popp'd in between the election and [his] hopes." It's also easy to see how he may have been "loved of the distracted multitude" (4.3).
Ethan Hawke:
Hawke plays an angst-filled hipster, a privileged drop-out caught in a cul-de-sac of life ("Denmark's a prison"). It seems he has little interest in being king and may prefer Occupy Wall Street (kudos for that). It's easy to see why the board of directors prefers Claudius. Perhaps loved mostly by hipster students among the distracted multitude?
David Tennant:
Tennant's Hamlet is very intelligent, but also very passionate and dangerous, ready to explode, and the emphasis seems to be on Hamlet as a madman. Raging, he sometimes seeks a fetal position. Not the sort easily loved by the distracted multitude, perhaps too intelligent to seek the limelight or to play games for the affection of the masses.
How do you like your Hamlet?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 9/16/17 on LinkedIn]
Madman? Privileged drop-out?
The Man-who-would-have-been-king?
Examination of just three film actors in the role of Shakespeare's Hamlet since the 1990s (Branagh, Hawke, Tennant) reveals distinctly different approaches to casting and portraying the prince.
Kenneth Branagh:
It is easy to imagine Branagh as a prince who could have made a good king, and that Claudius "Popp'd in between the election and [his] hopes." It's also easy to see how he may have been "loved of the distracted multitude" (4.3).
Ethan Hawke:
Hawke plays an angst-filled hipster, a privileged drop-out caught in a cul-de-sac of life ("Denmark's a prison"). It seems he has little interest in being king and may prefer Occupy Wall Street (kudos for that). It's easy to see why the board of directors prefers Claudius. Perhaps loved mostly by hipster students among the distracted multitude?
David Tennant:
Tennant's Hamlet is very intelligent, but also very passionate and dangerous, ready to explode, and the emphasis seems to be on Hamlet as a madman. Raging, he sometimes seeks a fetal position. Not the sort easily loved by the distracted multitude, perhaps too intelligent to seek the limelight or to play games for the affection of the masses.
How do you like your Hamlet?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 9/16/17 on LinkedIn]
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