Comparing Branagh and Olivier

The dickens movie versions of Shakespeares juncture that are directed by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh have similarities and differences. The similarities include how small town feels betrayed by his capture because of her sudden marriage after the death of his father. The differences include how small town is portrayed as a character. Olivier uses the junctures family with Gertrude and his soliloquy to portray Hamlet as confused, whereas Branagh uses the same dynamics to portray Hamlet as furious.Olivier presents Hamlets relationship with Gertrude as more physical in order to ndicate Hamlets confusion, while Branagh presents the relationship amid Hamlet and his mother as less physical to reinforce his feelings of frustration. During the scene where Claudius and Gertrude are encouraging Hamlet to stay in Denmark, Gertrude freely touches Hamlet and kisses him on the mouth to console her grieving son (Olivier, 1948). During this scene, Hamlet is sitting at the edge of th e table wearing all black and is turned away from everyone. He is upset that his mother has remarried such a short time after his fathers death.His tone of voice suggests that e is full of grief, devastated almost the death of his father, and feeling betrayed by his mother. Even though he feels betrayed, Hamlet passively allows his mother to embrace and kiss him. Hamlet is confused, and has no sense of how to deal with his conflicting feelings. Branagh, however, presents the relationship betwixt Hamlet and his mother without any physical contact amid the two. During the same scene in Branaghs version, the queen smiles and encourages Hamlet to stay instead of returning to Wittenberg (Branagh, 1996). In comparison to Oliviers Hamlet,Branaghs Hamlet has a different tone of voice. His tone of voice is on the edge of tears. When Gertrude consoles Hamlet and urges him to stay in Denmark, he agrees to stay, notwithstanding does non engage in any physical contact with his mother. He re mains distant from his mother, twain emotionally and physically. Unlike Oliviers Hamlet, Branaghs Hamlet shows that he is more vinegarish than Oliviers Hamlet about Gertrudes quick marriage. Thus, the directors depictions of Hamlets interaction with Gertrude in the two films reveal differing interpretations of Hamlets response to feeling betrayed.The two film versions also use Hamlets first soliloquy to depict their different interpretations of Hamlets character. Oliviers Hamlet delivers his soliloquy in his thoughts to indicate his confusion, whereas Branaghs Hamlet delivers his soliloquy in spoken words to show his frustration after he learns that his mother has married Claudius. In the Olivier version of the play, Hamlets first soliloquy is spoken in his head (Olivier, 1948). In this speech, he emphasizes that only a little marrow of time has passed after his fathers death and that Gertrude has remarried too quickly.He also emphasizes his confusion about Gertrudes marriage to Claudius, when Gertrude used to follow his father like Niobe. In Oliviers version of the soliloquy, Hamlet is grieving over his fathers death, but he is more upset about his mothers quick marriage to Claudius, his tamers brother. During his soliloquy, Hamlet says trail thy name is woman (Olivier, 1948) calling his mother weak-hearted for remarrying too quickly. In contrast to Oliviers Hamlet, Branaghs Hamlet speaks and yells to emphasize points in his soliloquy.He speaks of the same issues, but the tone of voice s different. He sounds exhausted, annoyed, and speaks as if he is about to start crying. However, when he mentions the point that frustrates him the most, his voice becomes significantly louder when he yells yet within a month (Branagh, 1996), emphasizing the short amount of time between the death and marriage, he reveals his bitterness. He feels betrayed and angry at the way Gertrude has moved on so quickly, rather than confused and sad, as he does in Oliviers film.Thus, a lthough both Oliviers and Branaghs versions of Hamlet stress the same conflict about his other, Hamlet is characterized differently in each film. In both film versions of Hamlet, the protagonist faces the same conflict, but Olivier and Branagh take different approaches to portraying Hamlet. In Oliviers version, Hamlets relationship with Gertrude is portrayed in a physical manner to stress Hamlets passivity and feeling of confusion, whereas in Branaghs depiction, Hamlets relationship with Gertrude reveals a less physical and more distant relationship in order to indicate his anger and frustration.Their soliloquies also distinguish the directors two different ersions of Hamlet Oliviers Hamlet delivers his speech in his thoughts, adopting a passive style to suggest Hamlets confusion, while Branaghs Hamlet delivers his speech out loud to indicate his anger and frustration. These two different depictions of the main character reveal how critical the directors input is in creating a disti nct interpretation of Shakespeares plays.