Ryan Gallagher
Senior Cp
Mar. 20, 2011
Alexander Fodor's Hamlet
My first impression on the video "Alexander Fodor's Hamlet" was that it was more modern then the other two selections. Hamlet was portrayed as a young man in the 21 centry, describing his emotions through different scenes of the video about his father's passing and even Ophelia. Even though it was a 21 century portrayal of Shakespeare's work of literature Hamlet's ideas and thoughts were still captured well, as to him being a "mad man" and what he thinks King Cladius, Polonius, and Ophelia portray of his madness. Hamlet's question at the beginning of the video to himself was very complex. He stresses the facts that he now knows about his Father in regard to the afterlife and how the most faintest thing can dam you, and King Cladius his uncle the man who was responsible for the death his father. Shakespeare references Hamlet's ideas of his some what suicidal thought and conditions towards his thought on society as a whole.
As the next scene starts to unfold there is a male character Hamlet, that is tape recording the famous soliloquy starts showing his strong feeling towards everything that has gone on. At this point Hamlet is trying to open up his mind more to understand the ideals of the after life. Hamlet is in a state where if he allows his inner thought to consume him or "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (lines 58-59). Hamlet is in a very weak state of mind anything can throw him off into the wrong direction. Then the scene changes to a deceased male unknown, presumably Hamlets father at some kind of a wake or funeral, then Hamlet and others kiss the diseased on the cheek to show there last respects. The identity of the diseased seems to be unimportant to Foder because they never really portray it much in the next scenes.
Fodor zooms into Hamlets eye to emphasize a dramatic effect of the soliloquy, almost so you can see into his soul or another dimension on how Hamlets truly feels about the passing of his father, the eye is used to uncover information that’s deep with in someone. Fodor uses the "eye" as a symbol that can be referenced as wisdom or trying to figure out clarity. The eye can also signify Hamlets understanding on his father's passing and if it has a strong depth of hurt on him.
The video of the soliloquy is formatted in Hamlets flash backs of his thoughts about the after life, his fathers passing and even Ophelia. It also shows how Hamlet was in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar situation and place, in a way not at home like he would like to be. The surroundings in the video changes as well as the speakers mood, like the lighting it changes to go with the mood of the speaker which is pretty cool, because you can feel what hes feeling just with the color that's shown. After Hamlet pays his last respects to the deceased man, he gets into a state of mind where he asks himself everything about his last experiences on his thought about how he could go about it and what he believes the after life is going to be like because of how it was portrayed to him and in what manner he should resolve it.
Hamlet's portrayed as an immortal because of his high ranking in society, as Hamlet gets into his soliloquy he speaks about the struggles and suffering man goes through. In lines 56-91 Hamlet speaks about his own difficulties he goes through such as dealing with his "life's misfortune" (n) and thinking suicidal thoughts. Then Hamlet compares death as " [a] heartache and [a] thousand natural shocks" that it brings upon his life. As Hamlet gets more into the end of his soliloquy he realizes that being a coward is what brings your closer to death, " thus conscience does make cowards of all of us, And thus the native hue of resolutions is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (lines 56-91 overall).
Fodo shows Hamlets "eye" as an over all analysis of the soliloquy, as Hamlet looks directly into the middle of the camera while speaking it emphasizes again the over all symbol of the eye meaning that Hmalet might be trying to look deep with in the audience to find there inner most thoughts about the situation, like he's portrayed in the famous soliloquy. The lighting in this scene makes Hamlet seem dead like very pale and lost, his expressions in this scene make him appear "crazy" as Polonius and King Hamlet would portray him as, for example his eyes are so wide wile speaking make him appear like he's dramatizing the scene more.
The director of the video also makes the other people in the scene that are paying there last respects to the deceased man seem lifeless no emotions in their faces what so ever. They also seem like if they are at funeral by what they are wearing, black clothes and the women are wearing no make up and so on. Through out this scene Hamlet is no longer in the middle of the camera with his eye, even though his eyes are still opened widely showing that his emotions did not change. What caught my attention the most at the end of the video was when Hamlet changed places with the deceased man and woke up when the woman Ophelia, kissed him for her last respects and smiled when he awoken. That part of the scene was my favorite because it showed that even though Hamlets acts like he's a mad man towards Ophelia there’s something about her that keeps him the bit most sain.
Fodo portrays Hamlets soliloquy of Shakespeare literature as a modern man and successfully presents his so call "madness" perfectly. I believe the video I choose was the best because it describes Shakespeare’s objective in a modern way so that the audience of today would relate and understand more about it.
