| I’ve seen a lot of Hamlets, and like all of them, this one has its moments of brilliance along with some weak performances and interpretations. Kate’s scenes are among the best: I love her intelligence and wit as she talks to her brother, and her mad scenes are among the most vivid and startling in Hamlet history. Having her straitjacketed and hosed down in a padded cell hammers home how dangerous her madness is - to others and to herself - as well as her desperation and cunning as she plans her escape. It’s much too easy to let Ophelia be on the sweet-but-dumb side, wafting around in long trailing skirts, getting bossed around by all the men in her life; Kate’s performance is that of a strong and intelligent woman, who knows the limitations she faces but is never meekly submissive. Even her suicide contains as much rebellion as despair. |
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Hamlet Movie Links |
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Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet |
Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare (paperback, $4.76). The New Penguin Shakespeare; good all-purpose edition.
Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare (paperback, $11.95). The Arden Shakespeare edition; scholarly edition with lots of criticism and textual notes.
© 1999 zeugmagirl@geocities.com
Updated March 15, 1999
URL: http://geocities.datacellar.net/~zeugmagirl/hamlet.html
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