To Be or Not To Be

      In Olivier's version, the mood is portrayed with ominous and dramatic background music. The weather in the scene is foggy, and cloudy, adding to the serious kind of feeling. The setting is a small cliff above the ocean, adding  to very isolated, serious, and personal sensations. The ocean waves in the background symbolize the sea of troubles transpiring. Hamlet's voice is very slow and steady, not really changing at all through the speech. The director has put clouds above Hamlet's forehead as he's in his jumbled thoughts, symbolizing conflict and confusion. When he pulls out the dagger, the speech continues through internal monologue. Hamlet drops the dagger in the ocean when he speaks of making cowards, showing he changed his mind about suicide.
      In Zeffrelli's version, Mel Gibson is in a very dark and gloomy cave. The setting includes mummies and dead bodies around. The actor alternates his voice according to the specific emotion that he's experiencing during that specific time of the soliloquy. The way Mel Gibson projects his voice in the play tells the audience exactly how he's feeling at every moment. The catacombs around him add to the contemplation of suicide and death. When he speaks of "face of resolution", he moves into the light and pears up at the sky.
      In Branagh's interpretation, the speech begins as Hamlet is staring at himself as he talks and contemplates things to himself into a two-sided mirror. The mirror shows him literally arguing with himself, symbolizing heavy debate. His voice is the only sound, until music begins when he speaks of "despised love". This version is a lot more sinister then the previous versions. As he gets closer to the mirror he draws out dagger and lays it o his face, showing his lack of fear to use it. Unlike all the other versions, Hamlet isn't very much alone in this speech, as he gets interrupted at the end.
      In Almereyda's Hamlet, the more contemporary approach is a lot more contrasting and distinctive. As opposed to the others, in this interpretation Hamlet is in a Blockbuster. It begins as a internal monologue, but it he gets more in depth he beings to speak aloud to himself. As he contemplates he walks down the "Action" aisles, contradicting the inaction he's been doing. The music sets a dark and depressing tone and relays how Hamlet feels like he wants to die. As he deliberates, he peers up at a scene with fire and guns displayed on a t.v. above him. He's simply just in a depressed daze, contemplating suicide.
      There's multiple adaptations of Hamlet simply because there's numerous ways one could interpret this play. In each version, the directors display the same dialogue in completely individual ways. In each rendition there is admirable aspects of portraying the dialogue. In Olivier's version, the isolation really gets the lonely contemplating feeling out the audience. In Zeffrelli's version, Mel Gibson's voice projections are what really serve as the foundation for that version. In Branagh's version, the conversation looking into the mirror literally symbolizes the internal conflict Hamlet has. And in Almereyda's version, the director is able to display the mood in a much more defined way using literal background scenes and point of views. But on a overall spectrum, I personally like the more modern version, by Almereyda, because I enjoy the contrasting way the director portrays this dialogue.