William Richardson describes Hamlet's character as one “moved by finer principles, by an exquisite sense of virtue, of moral beauty and turpitude.” (Hoy 147) Richardson goes on to say that a man like Hamlet “will find [his sense of moral excellence] a source of pleasure and of pain in his commerce with mankind.” (147) The deployment of the word turpitude is a perplexing one given the rest of the modifiers used. Turpitude means depravity or baseness. Coupled with the more complimentary terms applied to Hamlet, Richardson's use of this word suggests that he believes there to be a certain complexity to Hamlet's character that compels an audience member to question his actions and feelings. This complexity should also allow the audience member to be able to better relate to Hamlet than they would be if he were simply depicted as infallibly in the right. G. B. Harrison explains Hamlet's various facets in simpler terms by defining Hamlet's prevailing at the beginning of the play as a “young man's unreasonable disgust when he discovers that his elders are as strongly sexed as himself.” (Hoy 242) This childish disgust is then justified when Hamlet sees the ghost and is charged with its vengeance. However, Harrison notes that in the second part of the play Hamlet is in the same situation “but worse…still he can do nothing.”
[...] As a result, rather than being disgusted with or sympathetic to either character, the viewer leaves the scene confused about what just happened in arguably the most pivotal scene of the play. Olivier's performance and direction of this lead role also make it difficult for the audience to relate to Hamlet's problematic situation. However, it appears that making a highbrow, “difficult” film was the opposite of Olivier's intention. In Donald Spoto's biography, he writes “Olivier had the audience in mind every moment” with the ultimate goal that the play would “become comprehensible to the moviegoing public.” He even advised fellow actor Terence Morgan to be afraid of playing a role as broadly as possible.” Despite these good intentions, Olivier's acting and direction leave the audience feeling detached and separate from the issues present in this play. [...]
[...] Olivier's use of verticality in this film fails to allow for the complexity of Hamlet's character in that we see Hamlet either always moving upward or being above those around him. The shot of the opening scene of the play a shot of a steep staircase sets up the importance of stairs in this production. During the scene in which Horatio tells Hamlet of the ghost's visitations, there is usually a staircase in the shot behind Hamlet, indicating what he's going to have to climb before the end. [...]
[...] Especially in the be or not to soliloquy, when Hamlet is weighing the merits of suicide, placid or pensive should hardly be the first emotions to describe the performance. Especially when the character giving said performance is as unstable as Hamlet. Olivier's choice to set the scene out of doors on the battlements is another mistake. Even if it takes the audience back to when he was first given the directive that is putting him under so much duress, it removes Hamlet from the brooding halls of Elsinore where all his troubles lie. [...]
[...] After the play within a play, as Hamlet contemplates the coming conversation with his mother, he gazes upward as if receiving guidance from above. He stops halfway to her room as he sees Claudius. A staircase remains in the background his destiny is behind him. He looks up to see the image of Jesus just in time to stop himself from stabbing Claudius again, it is as if he is receiving divine assistance. He continues upward to speak with his mother. [...]
[...] The Oedipal undertones, which had been strong in the scene up to this point, end, not when Hamlet hears a voice from above, but when his father speaks from directly in front of him. He then gets off his mother and speaks with her on a level. The next scene in which they are together shows Gertrude coming down to see him off. Their relationship has been restored. The duel scene is also markedly different than Olivier's. Hamlet does not avenge himself on Laertes from above; rather, it's a cut while both of them are standing upright cut between two men who are equally damned. [...]
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