Term Paper

An Analysis of Multiple Productions of Hamlet
This fall our play company gave a performance based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We watched Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 film Hamlet as a class assignment first, and then choose scenes for our play company to perform. My performance was King Claudius’s monologue in Act 3 scene 3, lines 36-72. Looking back on Zeffirelli’s presentation now, after my performance, brings up many interesting comparisons. Comparisons between both Zeffirelli’s production of Hamlet and Shakespeare’s original exists, as well as comparisons between Zeffirelli’s Hamlet and our play companies own production of the work. The analysis of Zeffirelli’s Hamlet shows an interpretation of Claudius’s monologue that is notably different from Shakespeare’s text, and our company’s performance. A closer viewing of Zeffirelli’s presentation begins to highlight these differences.
The analysis of Claudius’s scene in Zeffirelli’s presentation of Hamlet provides an interpretation that is much less sympathetic to Claudius than Shakespeare’s original text was. It is apparent when viewing the movie, that the scene containing this monologue that Claudius gives has become more about Hamlet than it does Claudius. As a result of this, the viewer never connects with Claudius in the same way as they might from the text, and the sympathy for Claudius that is present in the text is then lost as a result.
Claudius’s scene in the movie is transformed into a scene about Hamlet by pushing Hamlets lines up and over those of Claudius. In this scene of the movie Claudius only delivers the first and last few lines of his monologue, as Hamlet intervenes with an aside to the camera during the middle of Claudius’s lines. By taking Hamlet’s aside that appears after the speech Claudius gives in the text, and actually placing it directly over his speech, sympathy is lost for Claudius. With this act Zeffirelli bluntly conveys to the audience that he finds Hamlet to be the more important character, transposing his lines directly over the middle of Claudius’s speech.
This notion that Hamlet is a more important character comes through in other parts of this scene as well. One big difference between the speech Claudius gives and Hamlet’s speech over it is the point of view. The face of Claudius is hardly seen through his entire scene, while Hamlet has a large close up for the entirety of his overlapping speech. This is especially true of the end of Claudius’s scene, where he is crying. Here only his back is visible, during what is supposed to be the emotional build up and most important part of the entire monologue. This point of view makes it difficult to connect with Claudius in a human way. So much of communication is nonverbal, in the gestures and expressions on ones face. When all this is taken from Claudius, his scene is much less impactful on the viewer as a result. Because Claudius loses this human connection with the audience, much of the sympathy they would have felt is then lost.
Without the impact that Claudius’s speech has in the text, it now feels a little cheapened in the movie as well. Specifically, the scene feels cheaper because the play within a play scene is placed directly before Claudius’s monologue scene. As a result, the dialogue between Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Polonius is cut from the movie. This speech helps to give Claudius more depth as a character in Shakespeare’s text version. It allows him to seem more like a real person, an individual with a personality, and less like just another piece in a play. This deeper characterization of Claudius comes through in the way he reacts to the play within a play while in dialogue with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Polonius.
Claudius’s dialog with Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius before his monologue reveals the fear that he holds for Hamlet, which gives him a more human side. No longer does Claudius seem like a cold and calculating individual who made specific plans to further his own agenda. Instead a scared, reactive side of Claudius is seen; a side that seems to be responding emotionally to events around him with knee jerk reactions. These emotions begin to arise at the beginning of the act in the first few lines, where Claudius proclaims “I like him not, nor stands it safe with us / To let his madness range.” (III.iii. 1-2). Here it becomes obvious that Claudius doesn’t just dislike Hamlet, but that he is afraid of him. He is saying that he doesn’t like the way Hamlets been acting, and he doesn’t think it’s safe for him to allow Hamlet to continue acting in this manner. Through these two lines Claudius conveys that he fears Hamlet may cause him trouble if he is left unchecked.
Immediately after this Claudius commissions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take Hamlet to England with him, to ensure he is kept from interfering with Claudius and his plans. Claudius’s fear arises again in the same breath, when he states that “The terms of our estate may not endure / Hazard so near’s as doth hourly grow / Out of his brows.” (III.iii. 5-7). Now Claudius is directly stating that his power is threatened by Hamlet and the plans he’s hatching with the passing time. Here the threat that Hamlet represents for Claudius draws out his fear and paranoia, making him act quickly and emotionally. It is drawn out again after Rosencrantz and Guildenstern speak, when Claudius says “For we will fetters put about this fear, / Which now goes too free-footed.” (III.iii. 25-26). The conversation between Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is brought to a close here by Claudius stating that he wants to get a handle on Hamlet, his fear he believes has gotten out of control. By showing his actions and reactions in the text, Shakespeare adds layers on to the character of Claudius, making him a more empathic individual. In the movie version however, these scenes are absent, and this connection to Claudius on an emotional level is lost.
Instead however, the viewer is shown the emotional side of Hamlet during this scene. Again the reason that the emotional connection to Claudius is lost is because of Hamlets intervening lines, where the reader is connected to him emotionally instead. Here Hamlet discusses the possibility of killing Claudius where he finds him. However, because Claudius is on his knees and praying, Hamlet decides against it. He feels that because Claudius killed his father in the middle of the night, before he had his chance to clear himself of his sins, than doing anything less to Claudius would not be fair. Hamlet believes that killing Claudius now, after his prayer, will simply be sending him to heaven after he has prepared himself to go. This Hamlet claims, is not revenge, but seems more like a favor to Claudius. This scene offers the viewers a glimpse into Hamlets thoughts and emotions during this scene, allowing them to empathize with and connect to Hamlet. So by placing Hamlet’s lines over the lines of Claudius, Zeffirelli makes the scene about Hamlet instead. These lines would normally follow, and give each character a separate outlet for their emotions. But when Zeffirelli arranges the scene so the only emotions getting to the viewer are from Hamlet, the viewer is sympathizing with Hamlet during Claudius’s speech. Sympathy for Claudius that is conveyed in Shakespeare’s original text is now lost in Zeffirelli’s production, because of this rearrangement of lines. This marks a large difference between the two productions of Hamlet, a difference mirrored in comparison of our company’s performance of the scene to Zeffirelli’s production too.
Our play company’s presentation of the monologue Claudius gives is also more sympathetic to Claudius than Zeffirelli’s production of the same scene. Because our play company’s performance contained all of the lines of Claudius’s monologue which were cut from Zeffirelli’s presentation, all of the sympathy evoked from these lines was present in our play company’s performance as well. This means that just like the comparison between Zeffirelli’s presentation of Hamlet and the original, our presentation was much more sympathetic towards Claudius than Zeffirelli’s production was. The sympathy for Claudius found in our play company’s performance was a direct result of the inclusion of the lines missing from Zeffirelli’s production.
This sympathy is found as early on as the first line cut in Zeffirelli’s version of the scene, where Claudius claims “Pray can I not, / Though inclination be as sharp as will. / My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,” (III.iii. 38-40). In these few lines Claudius reveals that he regrets what he is done. He is saying that his guilt for committing this deed outweighs any good that has come of it. In fact, because of how badly he feels, he wishes he could pray about it, but realizes that it will do him no good. He knows that what he has done is unforgivable even by prayer, and begins to ruminate on prayer itself.
Just a few lines later, Claudius asks of prayer “And what’s in prayer but this twofold force, / To be forestalled ere we come to fall, / Or pardoned being down? Then I’ll look up.” (III.iii. 48-50). Here Claudius is debating the purpose of prayer, and what praying can do for him now. When he questions how prayer really does serve him, he answers himself by stating that prayer will pardon us when we have sinned. From this he decides that he’ll go ahead and pray, and he decides to try and find the right prayer to suit his situation. It is here when he asks
“My fault is past, but, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder’?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.”
(III.iii. 51-55).
In these lines Claudius concludes that no form of prayer can truly serve his situation. He says that he couldn’t possibly pray for forgiveness from murder. This is especially true because he committed the murder to be a powerful king and take Gertrude as his wife, things which he still has and refuses to give up. He concludes that it is for this reason that prayer will not help him be forgiven for his sins in anyway. He even asks “May one be pardoned and retain th’ offense?” (III.iii. 56). Here Claudius knows that without giving up his offenses, he’ll never be pardoned by prayer.
This view into Claudius’s internal struggle with his attempt to find redemption in religion connects him to the audience in an important way. The very act of allowing the audience to see into his thoughts and personal struggle make him a more relatable character because they are allowed to experience the turmoil with him. On top of sharing this journey, the audience may be able to relate on another more personal level if they have ever had similar thoughts or feelings themselves. Chances are everybody reading this passage did something in their life that they regret, or felt guilty about. It is also common to seek forgiveness after doing something that makes one feel remorse. Forgiveness may be sought in other individuals, friends and family members, or even in religion as is the case of Claudius and his prayer here. Allowing the reader to see Claudius’s struggle and exploration into redemption through religion offers a great opportunity for the reader to connect with Claudius’s character on a very personal level. The reader will likely have shared the same thoughts and feelings themselves and will be able to relate to how Claudius is feeling to a certain level. Claudius continues to be a relatable character throughout the rest of his speech as well.
While readers likely won’t relate personally to the rest of Claudius’s speech from this point on, the feelings he is vocalizing allow for a great deal of insight into his character. This allows for the reader to really understand how his character feels about his actions, and what he plans to do about it. This understanding of Claudius on such a deep emotional level really only occurs in the reading, in the following lines of Claudius’s monologue:
“In the corrupted currents of this world
Offense’s gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft ‘tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law. But ‘tis not so above.
There is no shuffling; there the action lies
In his true nature,”
(III.iii. 57-62).
In this part of his speech, Claudius reveals that he knows what he did was wrong and unforgivable and that while he got away with it now, he won’t in heaven. He states that it is known that more often than not people on earth get away with unlawful or unjust actions. However, he goes on to explain that this is not the case in heaven, and that God will know the true nature of the actions taken on earth, and their intentions. Reading these words from Claudius really allow the reader to connect with him on an emotional level, because they are able to feel sorry for him here. When Claudius basically states that he knows that while it seems like he has gotten away with the murder of his brother right now, he will be punished for it in the afterlife. He believes that God knows the true intentions of his actions, and will punish him for it. This can allow the reader to feel much sympathy for Claudius upon reading these lines. Making this emotional and sympathetic connection with Claudius on this level is absent in Zeffirelli’s presentation of Hamlet, as it lacks these lines entirely.
This sympathy is strong again at the end of Claudius’s speech as well, which was also cut from Zeffirelli’s production. When Claudius yells “Help, angels! Make assay.” (III.iii. 69), the reader gets to see him turn to the heavens to help ease his situation. It becomes a powerful moment for Claudius, in which the reader is feeling pity towards him for the first time in the play. The moment is escalated as he continues speaking by begging of his body “Bow stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel, / Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe.” (III.iii. 70-71). Now, at the end of his speech, it is seen that Claudius is trying to change himself. When telling his knees and heart to soften, and be something they aren’t, he is attempting o change the things about himself. This is the most powerful moment of his speech as Claudius has seen himself, face to face, and he regrets what he has done and become, and turns to prayer for forgiveness. The very fact that the readers participated in the realization makes all the difference in convincing them to sympathize with his character. By being a part of his thoughts as he reasons this realization to himself, and comes to realize what he has become, the readers make a deep emotional connection to him in the process. This connection is lost almost entirely in Zeffirelli’s production of Hamlet, as all of these lines are missing. As a result there is a marked difference between Zeffirelli’s production and Shakespeare’s original text. A difference where the reader of the original text feels much more sympathy for Claudius than a viewer of Zeffirelli’s movie Hamlet would. This same difference also exists when comparing Zeffirelli’s Hamlet to our play company’s production as well, and it exists because our play company followed the original Shakespeare text.

Works Cited
Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. 1991. DVD. Warner, 2004.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. A.R. Braunmuller. New York, USA: Penguin Books, 2001.