Hamlet may be feigning madness, but in Ophelia we see the real thing. Is she just rambling when she comes in and starts singing, or, like Hamlet, do her words bhave meaning that no one around her can understand — or in her case bothers to listen closely to?
How would you describe Laertes? Using his own words, compare him with Hamlet. Are his actions justifiable? Why does he prove to be so easily manipulated by the king?
Does Hamlet bring about the tragic events at the play’s end? Does he finally make up his mind to act? At what point? Is Horatio correct that flights of angels will sing Hamlet to his rest? Or do his actions condemn him?
Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet is clearly a film, not merely a filmed play. At many points, Branagh chooses to present the material in a way that would be impossible to achieve on stage in a theatre. Explain how Branagh films in a way that takes advantage of the cinematic medium by examining two or three scenes from the movie.
Branagh uses actors who were famous but not known as Shakespearean actors for many of the roles. These include Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston, Gerard Depardieu, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams. (English audiences would have recognized some others, too.) Which ones do you think work well? Best? Which, if any, do you think do not work?