When it came to reading anything in my life I have always created an image in my head on how I perceived it to be. After reading The Ghost Scene in Hamlet I had a certain image in mind. After watching the three different takes on the scene my image suddenly became obscure to me. I felt this way because I realized that my take on it or anything else for that matter can be something totally different than someone else's.
After viewing Zeffirelli's take on the scene I was left with an eerie, and dark feeling. He portrays these characteristics through his use of shadows, tone of voice, and lighting. The use of shadows was shown in the setting, how the building was just a cast of black and shape. The lighting on the character's faces really gave it that "ghostly" feel, how only one side of King Hamlet's face would be shown. The actors portrayed their parts well, and gave it a more realistic feel, especially when Hamlet raged with emotion after finding out about his uncle. The different series of emotion that Hamlet's character goes through can be hard to portray, I feel, so Zeffirelli did a great job in showing that. Out of the three scenes that we watched this was the one I could mostly relate to in my own take on it.
In watching Branagh's perception on the scene I noticed how different some people can portray the same thing. His scene was very quick paced and hard to follow with the constant change of the camera angle. It gave off an anxious feel as he ran into the forest, I might say it was a little over dramatic. I felt that his time setting in the 1800s was a little off as well. He used more color then Zeffirelli did, with the costumes and light. The ghost character in Branagh's take is a very debatable matter. For me it was not what I pictured at all. The character in his version was much creepier, and mystical, because the use of makeup, and tone of the actor's voice. I felt as though there was not much of a "father, son" moment, there wasn't any emotion between them. Hamlet's true emotions were not shown as much as it did in Zeffirelli's.
Almereyda's present take on the scene was interesting to analyze. The whole take on it was much more subtle, by the acting and directing of it all. I feel that there could've been something more to the characters, such as, giving the ghost a more mystical feel. The use of props and setting really pulled through for the over all take on his perception. I noticed the television and how it was playing a fire scene, I think it was foreshadowing destruction to come or the impending fear of it. Also I noticed that Hamlet's apartment was very messy which showed the signs of someone who is mourning. We are left with one big hug at the end of the scene giving us some sign of emotional relationship between the two characters.
Overall, watching and analyzing these three different takes on the scene expanded my whole "image" and opened it up to new thoughts.
