To Be or Not To Be

     In Olivier's Hamlet, I thought that the setting of the act was a good key to making the audience feel the contemplation occurring within Hamlet's mind. Being on a cliff, a wrong step can send a person plummeting to their death. Just like the "To Be or Not to Be" speech, Hamlet is contemplating whether to chose death or deal with his problems. I believe that the music in this version did not help contribute anything positive. If anything, I thought it was a distraction. To me, the actor's voice was a little bit low and the music on top of it, tunes it out on some points. The transition between the different emotions along with the different tone in the speech was very impressive to me. I thought that it fit perfectly and made it more realistic than using one emotion.
     Zefirelli's Hamlet was my favorite version out of all of them. The actor that played Hamlet played the character well. He was on target with all the right emotions for the right parts. Also the setting at the catacombs gave off the feel of death and life, just like what the speech is supposed to portray. The lighting of the whole scene was definitely something that also affects how the audience reacts to it. The low lighting makes it sorrowful and gloomy, but also suspenseful and mysterious at the same time.
     Branaugh's Hamlet was the least appealing to me. The setting itself, to me, is too much. The designs of the tiles and walls are distractions away from the character itself. The setting has no symbolism unlike the first two versions we have watched. Also, the tone of the character is more vengeful rather than someone who is contemplating whether to take his own life or not. The bright lighting in the movie also did not give that feel of depression or conflict. To me, this version was the most similar to the actual script, but it did not give me clear understanding nor did it catch my attention as an audience.
     The modern version, Almereyda's Hamlet, had a good symbolism behind the setting. To me, I looked at it as contemplation once again. When people go to movie stores, they usually take a lot of time trying to decide what movie they should pick out. This goes along with the speech's purpose once again because Hamlet is deciding whether to live or not. The music and the tone of the character also was also good. The soft tone of the actor and soothing music gives a feel that the character is really in deep thoughts. However, it lacked different emotions throughout the speech.
     By watching four different versions of Hamlets out of maybe hundred or thousands more, it shows the universality of this play. I believe that the play could be depicted or interpreted into many different versions. In these four versions, the symbolism between the settings alone were completely different. Not only could it be interpreted differently, it could also be used as a base of different stories or movies such as the Lion King. Out of the four version, the one that stood out to me the most was Zefirelli's Hamlet. I believed that Mel Gibson had the right acts and emotions that fit perfectly well with the script. Also the setting, lighting, and harmonized well and made me relate it closer to the actual play than any of the other versions.