Imagery of negative experience of life:
"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes," (3.1.69-72)
Imagery of the uncertainty of death:
"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;" (3.1.65-68)
"But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?" (3.1.76-80)
Appeals:
Logos- This is Hamlet's primary appeal, this speech is a philosophical and logical analysis of the question of suicide. He looks at the disadvantages of life and death and argues primary that life is chosen over death because we fear the uncertainty of what happens after death.
Ethos- Hamlet's ethos primary comes from his strong logical foundation, what he says makes sense. Considering the larger context of the play, where we know he is very intelligent, if not always sane, means he already has some ethos with us.
Pathos- This speech is notable for not having much pathos. Hamlet is usually very emotional whist here, he calmly reasons out why a person should not kill themselves. There is a strong undercurrent of pathos as from the context of the play we know that Hamlet may kill himself if he can't find reason to live. He could very easily die if he doesn't reason well enough during his speech. But Hamlet himself never appeals to emotion.
Devices:
Paradox- The more we think the less action we do. This ties into Hamlet's frustration with his own delaying of killing Claudius.
Parallelism- Hamlet spends lots of time looking as death as sleep, with the dreaming that follows. Parallelism lets him analyse succinctly and eloquently.
Infinitive- Hamlet is talking about what is the best option- "To be, or not to be" (3.1.55) Which action/state of being is best? The infinitive address verbs and states of being.
Synecdoche- Let's Hamlet talk about things indirectly. Hamlet never talks directly about himself, but synecdoche let's him look at his own situation.
Tone- Hamlet is calm as befits a rational thinker, but also covering up a torrent of emotion as befits his tragic status.
Diction- His particular word choice lets him say more with less- "quietus" is an extremely unusual choice.
Metaphor- The major one is sleep as death, allowing him to make an argument about the afterlife.
Comparisons:
"who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d" (3.1.74-85)
Oppositions:
Sleeping may lead to dreaming, and we don't know what we dream after death. So I should not kill myself.
Hamlet lists out a long list of life's sufferings in response. How is death worse than life?
Hamlet counters again that death is unknowable and this fear of a potentially worse lot than life keeps us alive.
Major Questions:
Why should I kill myself?
Why should I not kill myself?
What is the nature of the afterlife?
What compels man towards action or inaction?
Conclusions:
People should live even though life is horrible because we don't know the nature of the afterlife, it could be worse.
Reflecting again on his inaction, he realizes that thinking too much makes people lose action because they doubt. Or rather Hamlet is so.
I find Branagh's version the best. The scene should be quiet but with undercurrent of incredible intensity. The camera angles reinforce this, it only looks at Hamlet's reflection over his shoulder, Hamlet is thinking about his situation. It also zones in slowly to reinforce the intensity and personal nature of the soliloquy. There is a single editing cut to Claudius flinching when Hamlet pulls out his knife. This helps give the greater context for the scene- Hamlet must chose whether to kill himself or Claudius. Hamlet wears a simple black suit, which is consistent with the rest of his play. Like he is at a funeral the whole time. The major prop is the mirror and the knife. We spend most of the scene looking at Hamlet's refection to reinforce how personal this question is to Hamlet. The knife adds to the undercurrent of emotional intensity. He never points it at himself but at his reflection. It also lowers the question of suicide from a philosophical debate to a very real event. Lighting is simple but good enough for the rest of the other mis-en-scene choices to be relevant. The choice to introduce the eerie music helps add to the undercurrent of intensity.
I find Hawke's version a bit preferable to Olivier's. Olivier's choice of music, the orchestral backing, and setting, a cliff over waves, seemed to be too loud and dramatic for what I felt should be a very quiet scene. Olivier's acting was quite solid, but the mis-en-scene surrounding that was too loud for my taste. I quite liked Hawke's version since it is a quiet and personal scene. The mis-en-scene of placing it in a blockbuster was quite funny considering how serious it often is. The action movie references were also helped reinforce the theme of Hamlet's inaction. I find his acting the weakest part though, it feels more like "Just got outta bed" rather than "Debating about suicide." Both though, lack an element that I was surprised by. Claudius, Polonius, and arguably Ophelia hear Hamlet's soliloquy, but they never really comment about it. Branagh's version has a scene to remind us of this while Olivier's and Hawke's are largely alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment