Hamlet
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Shakespeare is most famously known for his play, Hamlet. Many adaptations of the play have been created, both in writing and in film, but not all of them have been successful. More often than not, a film greatly detracts from the content of a play. As Kathleen Lundeen is quoted in Jack Jorgens's piece, "Shakespeare and Nonverbal Expression," "the pantomime is intended to add vitality to the speech, but I would argue that it competes for the audience's attention and thereby diminishes the force of Shakespeare's language" (727). In this paper I will discuss how both the 1990 version of Hamlet (Mel Gibson), as well as the 2000 (Ethan Hawke) version, weaken the text of the play.
In the adaptation of Hamlet made in 2000, the setting is quite modern-day. However, it seems as if the same dialogue was executed as in the play, which originates in 1600. While watching a movie that seems to be of the current time, the word usage is difficult to follow. Had I not read the play, I would be completely lost as to what the syntax of the dialogue was. Four hundred year old words are complicated to understand, and the recent setting only further complicates things...