David Akao Essays (513 words) - Characters In Hamlet,

David Akao Mrs. Pennycuff English IV, Block 8 8 February 2017 Film Title: Hamlet Director: Franco Zeffirelli Copyright Year: 1990 Medium of Publication: DVD Character Symbol: The main conflict that Hamlet faces in the film is killing Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet's father to become king. The ghost of Hamlet's father comes to haunt Hamlet about how he was betrayed and murdered by Claudius. The ghost that is Hamlet's father wants Hamlet to get revenge and kill Claudius. After this encounter, Hamlet doesn't know whether or not he should kill Claudius. Man vs. self is a conflict that we see in the film because Hamlet argues with himself and says that he will not kill Claudius while he is praying. Hamlet thinks that if he killed Claudius while he was praying that he would go straight to heaven, rather than hell. I feel as if in the film, Hamlet reacts a little bit like a coward and I think he acts this way out of fear. Also, I think he is confused and hesitant on whether he should kill Claudius or not. He also starts to act kind of stupid at times. This is shown in the scene where he stabs Polonius from behind the curtain. Hamlet' s hesi tation and indecision is shown in the scene where he gives his "To be or not to be" speech. Hamlet spends way too much time thinking instead of doing. The theme of revenge is developed very well in the film and is very prominent, in my opinion. I think it is treated as such because it is a very important theme in the film because of Hamlet striving to get revenge on Claudius for killing his father. Film Scene Techniques: In the Poisoned Cup scene from Act V, the camera angle is low . Also, the camera moves a lot and is unstable. Cross-cutting and a shot-reverse-shot is also included in the scene. One thing that is strange, however, is that Gertrude looks at the poisoned cup for a while before she drinks it. Also, when Hamlet and Claudius are sword fighting there is a lot of grunting and when both of their swords hit at the same time you can hear the metal clanging together. The camera angles made the characters look bigger than normal. The camera movement showed how rough the atmosphere was. The cross-cutting and shot-reverse-shot added tension and made the scene more fast-paced. Also, I felt as if the sound effects during the sword fighting, added to the excitement of the scene. I think the film techniques affected the whole film in a positive way and definitely made the movie more exciting and understandable. Like or Dislike? I liked the film because I thought it was a lot more exciting than reading the book. Also, I think it was a good adaptation of Shakespeare because the characters and themes had a lot of similarities to the ones in the book.