Essay: Explore Hamlet’s Actions and Words: Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are many different ways to interpret the play due to Shakespeare leaving scenes vague and allowing for creative licensing. No one knows what Shakespeare truly intended for the meaning behind what he wrote. This has let actors, directors, and producers put in what they think Shakespeare meant Hamlet to be. Through the use of acting and body language/movement, Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet offers an interpretation to whether Hamlet knew he was being watched and that influenced his actions or speech or he is actually candid in how he is behaving.
In Act 3 Scene 1 Hamlet delivers his “To be or not to be” soliloquy (3.1. 64-96). Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows that Hamlet knew he was being watched by Polonius and King Claudius. Hamlet walks into the main room and stops in front of that specific mirror despite the room being filled with mirrors. The whole scene, Hamlet is stood in front of that mirror, a two way mirror with Polonius and Claudius on the other side. It is highly suggested that Hamlet knows they are on the other side. He never moves his body from facing the mirror directly and his face, especially, his eyes are trained on where their faces would be if they were not hiding. When Hamlet says, “Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them”(3.1. 67-68) he begins to walk toward the mirror as if he is taking arms against Claudius and Polonius. The bulk of the scene is Hamlet slowly walking closer to the mirror, closer to Claudius and Polonius. Hamlet pulls out a knife as he says, “Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life”(3.1. 84-85) and points it that if the mirror was not there the knife would be in the face of Claudius and Polonius. His eyes are seemingly looking right through the mirror and at them. He continues his soliloquy with the knife right next to his face, but his eyes are still on the mirror, he knowingly smirks and at the end points the knife so it is touching the mirror as he says, “With this regard their currents turn awry and lose the name of action”(3.1. 95-96). He is telling Claudius and Polonius that he will take action against his father’s murder and he wants them to know they cannot hide from him. Hamlet may have actually felt what he was saying, but he was overdramatic in his words and his actions because he knew Claudius and Polonius were watching him and wanted to put on a show to get them to think he is mad when really he is just mad in craft.
The following scene is still Act 3 Scene 1, the “Get thee to a nunnery”(3.1.96-203). Claudius and Polonius are watching the interaction between Hamlet and Ophelia to determine if Hamlet is suffering from love-sickness. At the beginning of the scene, Hamlet rushes to Ophelia and they hug and kiss. Hamlet forgets himself for a moment and then remembers he is being watched, so he puts up an act for Claudius and Polonius. Hamlet becomes cold with Ophelia telling her, “No, not I. I never gave you aught”(3.1. 105). He becomes colder and violent, slapping the remembrances out of her hand. It is confirmed to Hamlet when Ophelia looks to the side where Polonius and Claudius are hiding and Hamlet’s face goes completely serious. He slowly turns to get and asks where her father is. He knows he is being watched and violently drags her opening each mirror door and he stops, again, at the two way mirror and pushed her up against it. He turns his head from looking at her and looks directly at Claudius as if they are face to face. He has a furious look on his face and is seemingly talking right to Claudius. Right has Claudius and Polonius leave Hamlet throws the door open to catch them in the act. Again, because Hamlet knows he’s being watched, he over dramatizes his actions to convince Claudius and Polonius that he is mad.
In Act 3 Scene 3(3.3) Polonius is spying on the conversation between Hamlet and Gertrude after the play. Hamlet is unaware that Polonius is spying on him, therefore his words and actions are true. He does not hold anything back when he yells at his mother and tells her how he truly feels about her marrying his uncle. Hamlet had no idea he was being watched because his level of anger in his body movement and facial expressions are the same before and after Polonius was killed. Hamlet violently grabs his mother and throws her around. Before Polonius is dead Hamlet is so violent that his mother believes he will kill him, so she yells out for help which causes Polonius to reveal himself. After he is killed Hamlet wastes no time in going back to his rage against his mother. Because Hamlet didn’t know he was being watched and was definitely not being watched for the second half of the scene his actions and words were not influenced.
Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows the interpretation that Hamlet’s action and diction were influenced based on whether he knew he was being watched. They used facial expressions and body movement to suggest to the audience when and how Hamlet knew or did not know he was being watched is specific scenes. In this production Hamlet’s actions and language were dramatized if he knew he was being watched and his emotions were rawer if he did not think he was being watched. The way the director and production crew chose to present scenes influence the meaning behind the lines Shakespeare wrote.