The portrayal of Act 1 Scene 5 is not at all what I expected of the scene. I envisioned Hamlet as being startled and scared but at the same time overwhelmed with feelings. I mean imagine if you had lost your father with out any warning like say a chronic disease would have had. Now all of the sudden the ghost of your father just shows up and starts talking to you. I mean would you really just stand there staring at him with your eyes glazed over? No! You would probably start crying or asking a bunch of questions. I know I would. For Hamlet, not only is it a chance to say goodbye, but King Hamlet is giving him insight into his fathers murder! He is telling him how to proceed. All Hamlet does in this scene is stand there with absolutely know emotion. Did he not just find out that his uncle just killed his father and is now in bed with his mother!? I don't know about you, but if I was Hamlet, I would pay close attention to what my father was telling me to do and obey his wishes word by word.
As for the interpretation of the scene by Kenneth Branagh, I completely agree with all of his views. Hamlet in this scene looks almost fake. He makes a good point that as an actor it is hard to portray a character going through this type of revelation without having gone through it yourself. That being said, Hamlet still does not look convincible what so ever. Kenneth also mentions how he feels Hamlet should have acted in response to seeing the ghost of his father. He says that he wishes the ghost would have frightened Hamlet more. I mean it is a ghost right? At least for me they are pretty scary. Lastly, I agree with what Kenneth has to say about the way Hamlet reacts to the news that his uncle murdered his father. Branagh describes how he knows Hamlet is moved and upset by the news but does not show it emotionally. I feel Kenneth Branagh makes a lot of strong points that would have further improved the movie in depicting Shakespeare's original feelings about Hamlet.
Maddy, I am totally on your side when it comes to Hamlet being expressionless throughout most of the video. That is not the reaction I would have expected to see either since it's a pretty big deal that Hamlet is in the presence of his father's ghost and is receiving a huge revelation about his death. You mentioned that Branagh tried not to show Hamlet's face too much because it is hard to portray all of the things he might be feeling. I think it really helped to see the background story in some scenes instead of Hamlet's expressionless face. The only part in which he actually shows emotion is when his father tells him that he was murdered by his uncle, but to me it seemed kind of fake, like you pointed out. I definitely agree with your opinion that the actor portraying Hamlet lacked potential and you're right the book is always better than the movie!
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