Page 150 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

I Know Not Seems / 139

The one that cannot be forgiven is the deletion of a single line by
Claudius when, following the Ghost's testing, Hamlet spies him on
his knees at prayer. True to his character, Hamlet again delays. He
wishes to kill Claudius while in sin, consigning his uncle to eternal
damnation rather than sending him, caught in confession, directly to
God. Zeffirelli unaccountably leaves out Claudius's capper after
Hamlet's exit: "My words fly high, but my thoughts remain below;
words without thoughts never to heaven go." Shakespeare is an iro-
nist; he wants us to see and hear more than Hamlet does, knowing
Hamlet could at this point have achieved his goal. It would have
been better to cut the entire sequence.
Fortinbras, the Norwegian prince who finally restores order, is
gone. Yet the omission undercuts Shakespeare's intent. The appear-
ance of Fortinbras is necessary for the author's vision of chaos
replaced by a return to order; without Fortinbras and the stability
he symbolizes, the carnage we have witnessed is, in the words of
Shakespeare's Brutus, "savage spectacle"—violence without purpose.
We are left hanging, uncertain whether the bloodshed has led to pos-
itive closure. Furthering this dark vision, the final shot peers down
at dead Hamlet, Horatio weeping for him, implying a pessimism that
is Zeffirelli's, not Shakespeare's. Though Olivier eliminated Fortin-
bras, he did approximate the notion of catharsis achieved through
terrible sacrifice; the camera moves up, up, up, following Hamlet's
body, which is carried to the very top of the tower.
New material is added, replacing wordy exposition with short,
sharp visuals. At the outset, Zeffirelli brings his characters (and
viewers) deep down into the castle's crypt as the deceased king is
sealed in his coffin. The sequence begins with a medium shot with
all in attendance seen as a group for the first and last time. Then
Zeffirelli cuts to a close shot of Gertrude as she cries; it's impossible
to tell whether her tears are real, feigned, or a combination of the
two. The camera cuts to Claudius, attempting to maintain his inno-
cent facade while secretively watching Gertrude, still jealous of any
feelings she harbors for the murdered man. Finally, Hamlet himself,
a hooded figure who considers first his mother, then Claudius, obser-
vant eyes making clear that this young man realizes that some sub-
terfuge has taken place. Effective editing prepares us for his later
reaction to the Ghost's revelation: "O my prophetic soul!"
Zeffirelli made difficult decisions regarding Shakespeare's anachro-
nisms. In the play, the final duel between Hamlet Laertes is fought
with the lightweight rapier so popular in Renaissance England. How-