The first video I chose was...
And the second was….
Please watch them both. They are really interesting.
One similarity I noticed was that in both of these videos the actors speak in a soft quite voice making for a scary and eerie scene. I thought both actors did a great job showing Hamlet as a man lost and confused, struggling with the decision to commit suicide or not. I also found that both actors made it seem as if Hamlet was just thinking out loud rather than talking to himself. Both actors did a great job portraying Hamlet as the confused man he is.
While in both of the clips Hamlet seems disheveled, I felt that in the first video Hamlet was shown more accurately with his scruffy beard and ragged dark clothing. I felt that in the second video Hamlet seemed to poised to be having suicidal thoughts. I also thought that in the clip featuring Mel Gibson the setting was quite different. Although Hamlet is supposed to coincidentally run into Ophelia moments later, I think that Hamlet would not speak of such controversial things in public where other like Claudius and Polonius can watch and hear him, making the first clip better.
Although I feel the first video was set in a better place, I thought that the use of props such as the dagger made the scene much more dramatic in the second clip. I also felt that by using the mirror it made the scene much more personal, almost as if Hamlet is judging himself and taking a closer look on his life and what he has to live for in the mirror. I really enjoyed how different and unique this scene was from all the others.
Overall, I think that the best clip would be the first clip with Mel Gibson. While the second clip had a unique and different approach to the scene, by using the mirror and other props, I still feel that the first clip portrayed Hamlet more accurately. The first clip is more of what I envisioned this scene to be, Hamlet alone, thinking amongst the dead. I think that this scene with Mel Gibson is more of an accurate and true to how Hamlet is portrayed in the book.
