I' m seeing commentary on the performance, but I'm dwelling on the words. Shakespeare had an innate grasp of human psychology; he is describing depression perfectly.
I love that version too, but it's delivered like a drunken soliloquy--perfect for Withnail and I. In the context of the play where it's part of a conversation, this might just be the best one. It's still emotional, but Hamlet is trying to be a little deceptive here.
This is exactly how Shakespeare would have most likely wanted it delivered if you actually read the play and understand Hamlet's state of mind. It should be cynical not melodramatic
I think you're not factoring in how Hamlet is actively deceiving his friends in this scene, or at least attempting to. Branagh is kind of playful with this, which seems to add a whole extra layer to it.
@Morgan Oates I was more meaning to make fun of KB's performance. I can't stand it. Hard to think of a word that sums up what he does to the words. Greff... the epitome of greff
Everyone in the comments talking about how this is a bad interpretation, but isn't one of the biggest part of reenacting a play, especially Shakespeare, the differing views people can have? That's part of the fun of theater: interpreting a piece of work the way you want to. There's no right way to do this, and yeah there are definitely wrong ways, there isn't one distinct way to do this.
I know this isn't how this monologue is "supposed to be performed"/how most people perform it, or even how I interpreted it when I first read it, but I love his delivery regardless.
@baby jesus 😂😂😂 Reasons I'm dying: 1) you somehow missed that I said I loved Kenneth Branagh's performance 2) you said "get back in the kitchen" as if Shakespeare is the manliest man topic to ever dudebro debate about
I was gonna say, this is probably closer to Shakespeare's intention than most. Hamlet, while probably actually depressed, is trying hard to make his friends think he is incredibly depressed. I think Branagh being sort of playful about it shows he's attempting to be deceptive to some extent. Which is pretty dang accurate. Most actors seem to want to just pile down on the emotional quality of the words unironically, and some do it very well. But that's not really what the context of the speech is.
Richard Burton brought me here .. well .. I'm going to listen to Richard Burton again and again 😅 .. I find his rendering of this extract better than Branagh's 🤔
I love Withnail's version too, but we gotta be real here. In the play Hamlet is trying to deceive R & G into thinking he's gone morbidly depressed. This speech that is part of a broader conversation is meant to be deceptive. I think Branagh captures that really well. Withnail was a depressed actor delivering it drunkenly to wolves. He basically reinvented it, speaking thw words very literally. It's brilliant, but it's a very different context I think.
and you can shut up as well ... neither Olivier or Branagh perform it with this tone you have interpreted ... go and read something else with the wrong intonation you ignorant toad
No, it's not. Full stop. You don't have to like or agree with this delivery, but the speech amounts to Hamlet saying that he's miserable and doesn't know why. All the wonders of the world- the beauty of it, that the figure of man even exists- all these these incredible things are just dust, and he's living disconnected from it all. That's not anger. It's depression. He IS a moody, angry young man at many points in the play, but not this one.
@baby jesus Jesus, are you on your period or what? Whatever, Richard E Grant's rendition of this in Whithnail and I is better than this version by several orders of magnitude.
@@catw9884 He's got a point. Hamlet has contempt for "What a piece of work is a man", Shakespeare stating it so beautifully belies Hamlet's actual tone, "we've heard this shit a million times." Reading it and concluding "that's beautiful" is kinda wrong. Not that Shakespeare didn't condense it beautifully, but "in form and moving how express and admirable" is sarcastic and contemptuous, the "foul and pestilent congregation of vapours" is how he really feels.
No, this doesn't work at all. Branagh has got it completely wrong. His version of Hamlet is very poor. Too much sighing and feeble expressions. He should have watched Richard E Grant in Withnail & I to learn how to play "The Dane"
oh sure. it's only the greatest Shakespearean rendition in the history of humans. This Hamlet film is the epitome of glory, a singular and lasting testament to the Bard. Nothing comes close.
