Act 3: Scene 1 Kenneth Branagh

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the famous line “To be or not to be-that is the question:” (64) has become very famous throughout history. In this scene, Hamlet is wondering whether or not he should kill himself. I watched three videos of actors trying to act out the famous Hamlet soliloquy, there is Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. However, in my point of view, Kenneth Branagh has the best reenactment of the famous Hamlet for many reasons.

Watching the other two reenactments, I realized that Branagh was doing the best reenactment, because he acted the soliloquy out word for word and had the best delivery of lines, which includes pauses and spaces in the lines. The other two actors however changed it up a bit and used some of there own lines and actions in the videos. The tone of Hamlet in general is a huge aspect to why I chose this reenactment as the best. Branagh uses just the right tones and movements while he is acting his lines throughout the whole soliloquy and keeps me guessing.

Reading the scene, I got the feeling that Hamlet was whispering to himself because he didn’t want any one else to hear him. Then, after watching the scene by Branagh I realized that Branagh was also whispering in a soft tone while looking himself in the mirror just questioning as to what he should do. The other two videos I watched didn’t really inform me on what was actually happening to Hamlet in this scene. Watching Branagh, gave me a great idea that Hamlet has gone insane and may commit suicide. In the play, when Hamlet says “To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream.” (72-73) I figured Hamlet was yelling at the top of his lungs for any one to hear the news that maybe he just may kill himself. Then after watching the video, I realized Hamlet was whispering to himself very discretely while looking himself in the mirror as if he were talking to his soul. Hamlet knows he is alone in this scene and is speaking quietly so he is not heard.

I was very interested in the part of the reenactment, when Hamlet looks himself in the mirror during speaking the soliloquy. It just so happens that Polonius and the king were behind that mirror and it gave me the idea as too did Hamlet know they were behind that mirror and was speaking so they could hear him? Back to the part when Hamlet pulls out his dagger, it shows a quick flash of Polonius and the king and they are frightened. This made me wonder if Hamlet was pulling out the dagger as a sign to Polonius and the king as if they should watch out because he knew they were spying on him and he would get his revenge.

When Hamlet is talking to himself in the mirror, he begins to whisper with a lower tone and says “When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?” (83-84) This signifies that Hamlet is very much interested in killing himself because quietus means to quit, which basically means Hamlet is going to quit his life by killing himself. Then he says with a bare bodkin, which is a dagger of some sort. As Hamlet releases these words, in the play he takes out a dagger as if he is going to cut himself. When the dagger comes out, Hamlet is whispering to his reflection in the mirror and pointing at himself with the dagger as if this may be the end. Branagn does a brilliant job in selling this to me and I figured that at this point while reading the play that Hamlet was speaking loudly as if scared to kill himself, but then realized after watching the scene that Hamlet was whispering very softly.

When Hamlet says “And lose the name of action.” (96) he taps on the mirror with his dagger to signal Polonius and the king to pay attention. Then right after that, Ophelia walks into the room and Hamlet walks over to her and acts very nice and normal as if he were playing around with Polonius and the king and knew they were there. Polonius and the king figured Hamlet would be acting strangely in this scene, but after watching the scene I realized that Hamlet acted normal towards Ophelia to throw off Polonius and the king and make them wonder what is going on.

In conclusion, I believe the reenactment by Kenneth Branagh was the best of the three, because of his excellent word for word display of the famous soliloquy. Branagh acted out this scene answered many questions I had about how this scene was actually happening in Shakespeare’s point of view. After watching the video of Branagh I came to the conclusion that Hamlet knew he was alone, but was just acting strangely because he has gone mad by this point in the play. The other two actors did a very good unique version of Hamlet in their own way, but after analyzing all reenactments, I realized Branagh had the best solutions to my questions in the play.