Hamlet:: Ghost Scenes

In the second version, interpreted by director Kenneth Branagh, the overall tone and atmosphere of the scene was eerie and haunted. The director focused on the darker elements of the scene and portrayed it in more darker, evil way. The dark forest with dead and bare trees, the fog and mist aloft in the air, the ground cracking and shaking upon each step that Hamlet took as he followed the ghost of his dead father brought the darker nature of the scene into play. The Ghost of King Hamlet was similarly portrayed to the novel, being a figure clad in armor. But the haunted and undead way that he was portrayed only added to the darkness of the scene that the director interpreted. Hamlet being played by Branagh also, at first was in a state of eagerness to see his dead father. The reaction that he gave to the news that his uncle who murdered his father wasn't how I pictured it. It was portrayed more dramatically and the music playing in the background while he said the lines that reacted to the news sounded more epic. At this point the atmosphere was getting lighter. The fog and mist were thinning and the mood of the scene started to become a little more at ease.

 In the first interpretation of the Ghost scene directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet, played by Mel Gibson, seem to be in a state of panic and confusion on why his dead father's ghost is about. At the scene on top of the tower before he encounters the ghost, Hamlet shows all this emotion of panic and confusion til he sees the ghost which then struck him silent and frozen. The tone between their conversation was rather heavy and suspenseful. The scene being on top of a tower with the wind howling plus the dark starless night added to the suspense and uneasiness of the scene. As Hamlet drops his sword, he present himself as stricken with fear and disbelief. Mel Gibson portrayed his character as a shocked Hamlet, a frightened and surprised son. Towards the end of the scene as the ghost leaves Hamlet, his reaction changes into fury and anger towards his uncle. He became raged with revenge, hacking at the castle walls with his sword as he watches the celebration of Claudius' with his mother. That scene wasn't expressed in the book but the directors decision to include that in the scene incorporated it to the anger that he was trying to instill into Hamlet's character.

In the third version of Hamlet, directed by Michael Almereyda, the play was done in a more modern day time.  The actors who played the Ghost and Hamlet made the tone of the scene in a more melancholy, depressed kind of atmosphere. The use of the handkerchief to show the way that Claudius had poisoned the king was a delicate touch of detail. The Hamlet portrayed by Ethan Hawke seemed like a softy to me. There was something about how his character portrayed that showed him as a Hamlet who can't really do anything. His portrayal of the character seems passive. Well yeah, the elements of the room reminded me of that movie 1408 where some guy goes around looking for paranormal places. That hotel room reminded me of the scene in Hamlet. It was light but it had an ominous feeling about it that added to the melancholy of the Ghost.