YOUNG PRINCE TAKES REVENGE
ON MURDEROUS UNCLE
Several Killed in Family Feud
In the famous scene at the end when Hamlet and Laertes have their fatal duel, John Waller, a well-known fight director, took fourteen days to film the ten minute duel that killed off both of these players.
The stronghold at Elsinor in Denmark where the play and this duel are set really exists. It is called Kronborg Castle and is in the Danish port, Helsingor, The Danish King Eric of Pomerania built it in 1423. In 1589, about five years before our William wrote 'the Danish Play,' his future royal sponsor, King James I, married Princess Anne of Denmark here by proxy.
Today, for obvious reasons, this Renaissance castle has become a 'tourist trap.' After 1785 its role changed from being a castle/royal residence to that of an army barracks. Then, 140 years later, in 1923 it was renovated to become a tourist site and thrown open to the public.
And how old was Hamlet when he was in Elsinor? According to the play, he was thirty years old (see Act V. sc. 1). However, if you look at the list below, only one of the actors, John Guilgud, was younger than thirty when he first played this role. He was 25 at the time. By the time he played Hamlet for the last time, Guilgud was 48!
A young John Gielgud playing Hamlet.
Sir Ian McKellan.........32
Mel Gibson....................34
Kenneth Brannagh........36
Henry Irving..................36
Richard Burton.............39
John Barrymore............40
Sir Laurence Olivier.....41
Sir Derek Jacobi...........42
Sarah Bernhardt...........56 !!!!!!
Statistics from: "The Shakespeare
Companion," ed.Rhiannon Guy.
With regard to the many aspects of Hamlet that have been written about and debated, the following list from the index of Professor Stanley Wells' Shakespeare For All Time shows that this play has become one of the most, if not THE MOST analysed piece of writing ever. BTW, these analyses include the moral, political, psychological, historical, allegorical, logical, religious and philosophical aspects, as well as several others that I have not included here.
But to return to Prof. Wells' Index, he refers to:
the animated version of Hamlet,
Benson's 'eternity' version,
Berlioz's music
Sarah Bernhardt
Different characters,
Comic 'Hamlet'
Davenenant's version
Delacroix's lithographs
Dumas' version
the duel
female Hamlets
film versions
forgeries of the ms.
Freudian interpretations Richard Burton as Hamlet
Ghost role, Hamlet at the Globe,
the graveyard scene
illustrations
influence in Germany
Irving's version
language & length of the play
Moscow Arts Theatre production
Old Vic production
Samuel Pepys' comments
Poel's production
sources
staging
Suckling portrait
supernatural in Hamlet
text & translations
and that's just from one general book about the Bard, not a book specifically about the Danish Prince and his problems!
Finally, I'm going to finish off these three blogs about Hamlet with the following paragraph from Shakespeare by Rob Graham, (2000).
Some academics have claimed that Hamlet probably reflects more of Shakespeare's own soul than any other character he created. Not his outward self - Hamlet talked where Shakespeare listened, Hamlet was a prince, WS, a glover's son: Hamlet is indecisive, Shakespeare seems to have been prudent and forthright in the conduct of his affairs. But both men were reflective, highly intelligent and concerned with moral choices. As Charles Clive has said, "Hamlet is what would happen if a great poet grew up to be a prince."
Next time: Halle & Holinshed (WS's Google for history)
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