Blog Post Number 15: Hamlet Post 3

Soliloquy Analysis

• Locate imagery that refers to the uncertainty of death. "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.85-86).
• Identify imagery that refers to the negative experiences of life.
• "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" ( 3.1.71).
• "The heartache and thousand natural shocks" (3.1.63).
• Appeals: Which appeal(s) does Hamlet use to convince and/or motivate his audience? Refer to specific lines.
• Hamlet uses pathos in order to convince his audience that life is sorrowful and that it may not be worth it. Though there is some logos as he seemingly states the facts of life, they are from his perspective. He speaks about taking "arms against a sea of troubles" (3.1.60)  By questioning his own life and struggles, Hamlets causes the audience to ask this as well. This leads to empathy. 
• Literary Devices: Identify the significance of the following in this speech – Paradox, parallelism, the infinitive, synecdoche, tone, diction, metaphor. What are the two primary metaphors he will use in this speech?
• Compares and personifies life as something that fights against individuals, such as a "sea of troubles" (3.1.60).
• He compares death and the possibility of an afterlife as an"undiscovered country from whose bourn/No traveler returns" (3.1.80). 
• Identify evidence of the following comparisons: life on earth, afterlife, death, humans, thinking.
• Life on Earth: enduring "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (3.1.59). 
• Afterlife: "The undiscovered country from whose bourn/No traveler returns" (3.1.80-81). 
• Death: "To die, to sleep" (3.1.61). "-and by to sleep to say we end/The heartache" (3.1.63). 
• Identify at least three oppositions present in the arguments Hamlet makes. What eternal philosophical questions does Hamlet ponder?
• "To be, or not to be?" (3.1.1).
• "Is it better to live or to die?" (3.1.5). 
• "To grunt and sweat under a weary life,/But that the dread of something after death..." (3.1.22-23)
• What conclusions does Hamlet draw?
• Hamlet is convinced that though it is better to die than to live his life he is too fearful of the unknown to do so.

Scene Analysis: 

Kenneth Branagh: This scene included rather simple camera angles and an interesting setting, in which Hamlet is facing his on reflection in a mirror. His movement is slow as he nears himself, the music increasing with volume as his voice goes from a questioning tone to sorrow to a sense of hatred and anger. His speech is soft and slow, this allows the audience to truly focus on the importance of what he is saying as well as understand that he is deep in thought as he speaks. By showing him in front of a large mirror, the director has shown Hamlet looking within his own eyes as he questions his own life, his past, present, and future. He knows the no one can give him the answers he is seeking.

Laurence Olivier: This adaption takes place with Hamlet on top of the castle on the edge of a cliff. He is dressed in mainly black, possibly mourning his father's death still, and is looking below to see the crashing waves, loud in comparison to his own voice. Slow-paced music plays in the background, increasing the intensity of the scene. As he speaks of sleep, of death, his voice trails off and then his lips are still. His thoughts are still heard, showing how loud they truly are to him. His words are empty as he speaks; looking into the distance in his solitude.

Mel Gibson: Hamlet moves down a stone staircase into a dimly lit tomb. There is no music or purposeful background noise, simply his voice. He speaks scornfully, looking to the bodies placed within there. Approximately halfway through this monologue, he sits and eventually lays down beside one of the many bodies within. Slowly, he struggles to get up once again, eventually looking up into the light leaking from outside as if to ask God what he should do. This adaption of Hamlet portrays him as rather scornful and depressed, wishing that there was hope for him but believing that there is none.

Ethan Hawke: This adaption was a more modern take on "Hamlet". It takes place in a secluded DVD store in which the famous monologue is at first shown as merely the character's inner thoughts. In the background an Action Film is played, the dialogue and sound effects fairly audible. Hamlet eventually speaks to himself as he strolls the aisles of the store, coming off as a mad man to anyone who may have glanced in. He has given up on what others think of him and lets out his inner thoughts. He has stopped caring; that is made clear as soon as the audience catches a glimpse of his hat.