The Ghost Scene

On Monday in class I watch three versions of the ghost scene in hamlet. 

In the Zeffirelli version the tone of the ghost scene was more emotional than the other two. Hamlet showed the signs of grief and sorrow towards his fathers ghost. After the ghost leaves he becomes enraged with madness. The music expressed the sadness in the ghost. In the Branagh version the music was more fast paced and hit tones to expressed the ghosts feeling of what he endured by the hands of his brother. In that scene they were more descriptive in showing the scene of his death. The flashback I believe where done in a way to give hamlet a vision of what his father endured. The third version directed by Almereyda was more modernized and the actor portraying the father was hands on then the last two. In the first two in Zeffirelli and Branagh hamlet didn’t get a chance to touch his father’s ghost because it would already vanish. The music in the third version expressed hurt and pain.

The first did not use any special effects, the second showed the ghost looking a bit demonic and frightening. In the third version the ghost simply spoke but there were not any special effects. The lighting in Version one and two helped set the tone for a ghost by showing dark and gloomy lighting. The third showed a lot of light. I believe that the third version took away some of the mysteriousness of what we usually expect when there is a ghost close by.

The third version, the ghost kept dabbing his ear, indicating that he was experiencing pain, though there was not anything present.