There has been many different versions on Hamlet, the films being much alike in plot being told and characters but every version has many differences. The Kenneth Branagh was released in 1996 while the Laurence Olivier version was released in 1948. These films were released in different time periods so the films have some differences. Main differences being the setting, cinematography, and how the characters are portrayed.
The difference in the two films are the cinematography. The main factors of cinematography include lighting and camera angle. In the Branagh version, the angle is mostly seen through Hamlet looking through a mirror. When the film first starts you are shown that on the other side of the mirror, Polonius and Claudius are…show more content… In the two versions they are portrayed very differently. The Branagh version, to start he thinks he is just talking to himself but behind the mirror is really two other people, Polonius and Claudius listening to what Hamlet is saying to himself and watching what he is doing. Hamlet is speaking out loud in this version for the whole time. In the Olivier’s version, it starts out with Hamlet sitting on the rock alone and he is talking out loud to himself. Then in the soliloquy Shakespeare mentions sleeping and dreaming “To die-to sleep… too sleep, perchance to dream” (Shakespeare 66). Hamlet doesn’t speak those lines out loud, he says them in his head. It’s like he fell asleep and is dreaming but you can still hear him speaking. Then after waking up he continues to speak his soliloquy out loud. How these soliloquys were portrayed were completely different but it the way both versions were portrayed worked for that soliloquy.
The Branagh and the Olivier’s versions of the, to be or not to be soliloquy in Hamlet are very different in ways of setting, cinematography and how the whole soliloquy is being portrayed. These versions were both very well done. The versions were done in completely different time periods. Every version of Hamlet is going to be different from other versions but the Branagh and Oliver’s are the two I decided to
