"To Be or Not To Be"

     Shakespeare changed the whole concept of writing. His plays and poetry reflected obstacles we face in our everyday lives. Hamlet is a great example of this because of his "To Be or Not To Be," speech. There has been many renditions of this play and each one has been different by having diverse actors, directors, setting locations, tones, music, special effects, etc. For example, in the beginning of Oliver's movie clip, he started off with the camera close up to his head. He wanted to show the effect of him just thinking about the troubles of life or death in his mind. Later on he begins to speak out loud, while sitting on top of a cliff, where down below there is a body of water. You can see in one of the lines of the speech it says "current" and in the clip the waves, are breaking against the rocks in the ocean, probably representing the "current," from the actual verse. Hamlet's tone throughout the speech was calm, like the sound of the ocean's waves heard in the scene. Also, some of the props he uses was a dagger.
     In Mel Gibson's interpretation of the speech, "To Be or Not To Be" was completely different to Oliver's. The setting took place in the catacombs. This is very significant because that is where his father was placed and all other noble people who have passed away. During the scene, Hamlet speaks slowly and with sorrow in his voice. As he progresses with the speech, his tone begins to become a bit angry, but yet again, he calmly returns to a gentle, sad voice. This gives the movie and audience a well understanding of Hamlet's emotions throughtout the speech. In his hands, he is not holding a dagger, but at a certain time he kneels down unto a tomb and places his hands into prayer postion. It's something distinct than all the other short clips do not have. Additioanlly, there wasn't any music playing in this verison. The Mel Gibson verion was by far my favorite becuase the way Hamlet is portrayed. 
     Since Hamlet is so universal, there is a modern version to the, "To Be or Not To Be" speech. Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet in the modern movie and the setting takes place in Block Buster. Majority of the time he is walking up and down the aisles and not actually speaking aloud, but in his mind. In fact, he happens to be walking in the action section. Even though he does this, he can't take "action" or make a decision of living a life full of pain or just simply killing himslef. In the background, you can see fire on the TV's representing hell. In addition, there is suspenseful music playeing as well.  Hawke's tone was sarcastic and dark. I anticipated more fro the character, but I didn't enjoy it.
       Last but not least, we have director Branagh's version. In the beginning, his voice was low, but began to elevate a little with anger. While he's in front of the mirror in the ballroom, he takes out his dagger/sword. There was music and it sounded like mysterious voices. He definitely was subtle while saying the speech. I think he wanted to go for a stern, but yet soft voice. Branagh's version was another one of my favorites.