Comparison Of Two Plays Of The Hamlet Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

COMPARISON OF TWO PLAYS OF THE HAMLETByInstitution
Comparison of Two Plays of The Hamlet
The Hamlet is one of the disaster themed works of William Shakespeare and provides a very compelling story of family feuds and royal animosity. The play encompasses a plot where hamlet realizes that his father has been killed and formulates a plan to expose his uncle’s evil through a play, which would justify his actions and strengthen his desire to revenge his father’s death. The play ends with the death of seven people, among them Polonius, Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, Laertes and Hamlet himself. One of the most elaborate scenes is in Act 2 Scene 2 where Hamlet is in a room and has a self-dialogue. Through this we learn of his predicaments, his pain for losing his father, his submissions to his father’s ghost’s advice and his plans to craft a play that would expose his uncle as the villain. This study compares the same scene presented in two different plays with the intention of exposing the usage of costume, stage, plot, set and lighting among other theatrical elements.
Plot
The two videos one acted by David Tennant and another by Kenneth Branagh provide a more practical and elaborate way of understanding what actually transpired when Hamlet decided to have a self-dialogue inside a room. The scene comes immediately after Hamlet had had a meeting with players and organized how the next day they would produce a play to depict the death of his father, “Dost thou hear me, old friend; can you play the Murder of Gonzago?” The two actors perform their acts in a room without the presence of any other person and makes this consistent with the beginning line of the dialogue, “Now I am alone.” The act in the first video by David Tennant makes it more artificial where he jerks of a CCTV camera from the wall before saying this statement while Branagh closes the door before beginning to speak. The second video therefore makes the beginning of the plot more natural.
Set
A set is the scenography or the design of the stage where the actors perform their plays. Set helps the producers of a play to provide the audience with a context of the play, and can aid in attracting the audience according to how the scene is presented (Harvard.edu). In the first video, the producer uses a combination of modern and Victorian themes to bring out the scene of the play. The play begins with David Tennant plucking off a CCTV camera on the wall and throwing it away before beginning his acts. He does his act in a large room with the decorations of the Victorian era, which helps to emphasize the fact that prince Hamlet is of royalty. The chairs, chandeliers hanging from the roof, beauty table and candle holders are designed and decorated in gold, which was evident with a royal household. The window decorations and elements are also golden, while the columns supporting the roof are polished white and the floor shinny. This gave the play a 17th Century appeal, though the use of a CCTV camera at the beginning of the play wanted to connect it more to current audience.
The second video acted by Branagh as prince Hamlet uses a different type of set as compared to the previous. The action occurs inside a small room that appears to be a library in the Victorian era. There are candles on candle holders in the room, artifacts, statues and face masks probably of prominent family members an evident in the Victorian era (Booth, 2015). One area of the room is covered by a book shelf from the floor to the roof, trying to bring out the academic oriented nature of the royal family. Other elements appearing in the room are table clock, a miniature castle design, a globe and photos on the wall mainly in black and white and brown coloration depicting 17th Century paintings. There is minimal use of metallic elements in the room, with the door, window and wardrobe all made of wood. The globe and the candle holder are decorated in gold, giving them an expensive and royal appeal.
Costumes
The two actors are both white with Tennant having black hair while Branagh has blonde hair. David Tennant in the first video wears a dirty red T-shirt and blue jeans, which sets him far apart from his appearance as prince Hamlet. However, the T-shirt and jeans gives him a youthful appeal as prince Hamlet was a young man in his college days, which is a dressing code common with college students today (Clemente, 2014). Another reason for the use of the dressing code by the actor may result from the producer’s decision to reconcile both the Victorian age and the current modern world in the play. This is mainly evident when CCTV camera appears in the play, while the chairs, chandeliers, dressing table and candle holders are all designed and decorated in the 17th Century style.
In the second video, Branagh provides a more appealing appearance of a prince. He wears a black tuxedo with a white shirt and his formal look provides him with a more appeal to a prince in the Victorian age. This is even more precise with his blonde hair and looks that helps to bring the image of a prince Hamlet of Denmark.
Lighting
The lighting used in the two plays were well articulated by the producer, helping to bring out the mood, color and visibility that were required according to the situation, time and setting of the play. The lighting used in the first video used a direction where the light was laminated from the roof of the room to the floor. The lighting employed both artificial and natural light to give the room the appeal of daylight. There were chandeliers with candles dangling from the roof though these were only symbolically employed to provide the room with a Victorian appeal. The visual appeal in the room included dark scenes that were poorly illuminated and the intensity of the light was low, which helped to build the mood of anger, remorse and vengeance as portrayed by the actor. The lighting employed the aspect of selective focus well where the lighting from the roof concentrated on the actor in some parts.
The producer employed the aspects of lighting well in the second video, where the aspect of time was well captured. The time in the room appeared to be daytime, with the light intensity used in the room being low enough to make it appear day time. There were also unlit candle sticks which emphasized this aspect. The lighting also used the aspect of direction of light well where the lighting of the room appeared to coalesce with the light from the window making it appear as if there was the use of natural light. The lighting helped to capture the moods of anger, remorse and vengeance effectively, as the intensity was low enough to accommodate this. However, the room was well lit with very minimal appearance of shadows in the room.
Acting
The main theme and mood depicted in the scene was that of anger and revenge. The actors helped to bring out the feelings of prince Hamlet in his personal dialogue with their expressions and actions. In the first video, Tennant brings out the anger held Hamlet by first jerking off the CCTV camera from the wall to show his desire to finally remain alone and think. He jerks the wore off and throws the device away before going to sit quietly at a corner after muttering the words, “Now I am alone.” The actor portrays the mood of loneliness in this action, especially when he begins by muttering, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” The actor then stands up after talking while sitting for a long time and moves up and down the room talking to himself. The actor helps bring out the thoughts of a disturbed man, his expression of anger is followed by bursting movements of hands to express his dissatisfaction of himself and the conspiracy that the whole family in the castle is playing behind him.
The actor engages the audience twice in the set when he looks at the camera and asks, “Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?” The actor also portrays the sadness and remorse held by Hamlet when he falls down as he proclaims, “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell.” The ending part of the play has the actor provide a concerned and cynical look when he explains his plan to let the players depict his father’s death in a bid to capture his uncle’s reaction. Tennant’s expression especially when looking at the camera (04:15) allows the audience to understand the gravity and the weight Hamlet has on revenging his father’s death.
In the second video by Branagh, he begins by closing the door and muttering the line, “Now I am alone” amid bated breath. This provide the audience with a more elaborate way of having personal time than in the first video. The actor starts his pe...