Video Critque: 3:1 Hamlet's Soliloquy (Laurence Olivier)

Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act Three Scene One can best be portrayed through Laurence Olivier’s performance. Throughout this speech, Hamlet experiences many different sensations. I believe that Laurence Olivier is best in showing these emotions. The sound and camera effects, the setting, and the portrayal of Hamlet have significant influence in my decision.
Music is being played before the start of the speech. The music’s change in volume and speed reflects the situation Hamlet is in and the “shocks” (line 61) he experiences in knowing the truth behind his father’s death. Hamlet is working “against a sea of troubles” (line 58). He is arranging and executing a plan in order to reveal the shocking deeds King Claudius has done in order to gain his position at the throne. To him, this is a dangerous action. The reason for this is that he will be killed with “slings and arrows” (line 57) if he makes a single mistake in his plan.

The increasing volume and speed in the music that is being played demonstrates the feelings Hamlet experiences at the time. Also, the music sounds fearful and seems to push towards a sense of confusion. Hamlet is “suffer[ring from his] outrageous fortune” (line 57). His fate is outrageous because his mother marries his uncle, who is the assassinator of his father. His knowledge of this makes him feel as if he has a duty to revenge for his dead father. However, at the same time, he does not want to do so. He wants to live happily with Ophelia and pretends to know nothing. He is ignorant of the choice he should make—whether he should revenge for his father or not. He does not know if he should “be, or not to be” (line 55) the one who revenge for his father and creates a situation of dismay for all the people living in Denmark, including himself. This “is [a] question” (line 55) to him.

The camera plays a major role in creating this sense of ignorance. The camera creates both the colors of light and dark before the beginning of the play in order to show Hamlet’s reflection of his actions, whether they are right or wrong. He balances the positive and negative effects his vengeance would have on everyone in Denmark. He knows that he is able to “end” (line 59) King Claudius’ power and his “heart-ache and natural shocks” (line 61) “by opposing” (line 59) him and executing his plan. At this point in Olivier’s performance, he takes out a knife and stares at it. This action makes me feel as if Hamlet wants to suicide because he does not want to make the decision he is forced to make. Then, he closes his eyes and says a few more lines before he opens up his eyes again and concentrates them on the sky. He hopes to stop dreaming about his father’s “death” (line 65) every time he sleeps. On the other hand, he knows that “calamity [will last] so long [a] life” (line 68) if he kills King Claudius. At this point, Olivier shows fear in his eyes while he is talking. If King Claudius dies, a new king will be put on the throne. Since Hamlet is the assassinator, there will not be anyone proper to put on the throne. With this, Denmark would be in a state of confusion and will not be good to everyone in the region. People would “grunt and sweat under a weary life” (line 76) if he succeeds in killing the king. Then, Olivier looks as if he cannot believe how the future will be like. Hamlet does not want “to bear the whips and scorns of [the] time” (line 69). Next, Olivier looks around the cliff as if he is searching for the existence and appearance of law. Hamlet feels intolerable for the “law’s delay” (line 71) in finding out King Hamlet’s true death. Lastly, Olivier looks innocent and disappointed. Hamlet does not want people to despise the “love” (line 71) between Ophelia and him and to say that the reason he has a relationship with Ophelia with the purpose of overthrowing King Claudius.

He is afraid of dying and getting punished for killing King Claudius. He is afraid that his “conscience [will] make [him a] coward” (line 82); he worries that his preoccupation for the people in Denmark will make him stop in his vengeance. At this point, Olivier drops his knife, thinks for a brief moment, turns around and seems like he does not want to face the audience and appears to be despising himself. Hamlet does not want to lose his “native hue of resolution and enterprises of great pitch and moment with this regard” (lines 83-6) by revenging. Hamlet is “dread [of the life] after [his] death [in the] undiscover’d country, from where no traveler returns” (lines 77-9). He does not want to be put into a place where he sees people who he “knows not of” (line 81).

The setting of Laurence Olivier’s performance highly motivates people into feeling the way Hamlet feels in his state of thought. Hamlet is experience both high points and low points. He does not know the action he should take with his knowledge of his father’s true death. Locating himself on a cliff, where he is able to see the ocean with turbulent waves, Olivier is able to demonstrate this state of confusion in Hamlet’s mind. Hamlet’s struggle in his mind is like the waves in the ocean, moving up and down at a constant rate.