Hamlet 1990 Essay

888 Words4 Pages
Hamlet 1990 The 1990 film version of Hamlet has many similarities to the play, but it also displays many differences and discrepancies. Franco Zeffirelli, like all other directors put is own twist on Shakespeare’s original work. In his film version of the play he construes the dialogue and also rearranges the order of a few scenes. Creating a film version of a play requires more information to be conveyed in order to get the message across to the viewers. Although the original plot stayed the same, in some ways, it is quite difficult to overlook the many differences that exist between the two versions of Shakespeare’s play. The 1990 film version of the play depicts one particular individual’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s work and the differences found in the movie are evident due to that fact. There were many blatant discrepancies in the 1990 film version that replaced certain parts of Shakespeare’s original play or twisted them around a bit. One example is in the films opening scenes. The film opens up with the funeral of King Hamlet while the play opens with dialogue between Horatio, Francisco, Bernardo and Marcellus outside of the King’s manor. The dialogue during the funeral scene of the film is also noticeably different from what Shakespeare had originally written. Director Franco Zeffirelli also removed the character of Fortinbras from the film version. The absence of Fortinbras from the film isn’t as crucial as omitting Laertes, but it does change the tenor of the story somewhat. In the play, Fortinbras played a very important role at the end when he stepped up to take the throne after the deaths of Hamlet, Gertrude and King Claudius. Another obvious difference between the film and the play happens in the scene where Hamlet hides his feelings for Ophelia through his rude treatment of her. In the play, both the King and Polonius observe Hamlet’s “mad”
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