Derek Jacobi

Unexpected Rise of a Hero? Or Downfall of a Villain? Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Richard Briers, Kate Winslet, Nicholas Farrell, Michael Maloney, Rufus Sewell, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams. Hamlet is perhaps one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s play written around the 1600’s. Over time the play has varied, however I consider this version I watched this afternoon directed by Kenneth Branagh in 1996 to be one of the best by my standards. Branagh passion for the play fueled his desire to direct an un-bridged version of the play. Captivating audiences of all ages. The opening scene is notified of his father’s unexpected death while away attending school in Germany. Hamlet returns home in Denmark to bury his father,…

No human is perfect; the balance of willpower and necessary self-indulgence is such a fine one that even the most perfect of people occasionally make mistakes. True, the most noble of us have more finely tuned the system of giving up the wants and retaining the needs, but isn’t it said that the highest have the furthest to fall? Aristotle once said that bravery was most valuable when it is strength against wants but least valuable when it is strength against enemies. Throughout literature, many…

As Hamlet’s story begins, we see that he consciously slips into madness; After some time, we can see that his hallucinations start getting more and more real, which we can assume as to him becoming actually mad. We could say that in his eyes, the means justified the ends, and he had his ends very clearly objectified, but as the progress of achieving the ends occurs, the ends became blurry and his actions insane, which lead me to believe he was a little.. off and, undoubtedly, depressed even…

The soliloquy of act 2 scene 2 is focused on inner struggles with revenge. Earlier in this scene, Hamlet asks the actors to recite the story of Priam. While viewing this play hamlet realized the flaw in all that he has been doing, or hasn’t been doing, to act revenge on Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet's father and stole the crown and hamlet is the only one who knows so he hatches a plan. He has made a few attempts of Claudius' life but failed. He is beating himself up at this point. As the play…

Throughout time, humans have displayed many positive and negative life experiences. These experiences can be categorized under various themes, ranging from; love even onto betrayal, and through these themes human emotions and experiences can be studied. “Hamlet,” by William Shakespeare, and “Death of a Salesman,” by Arthur Miller, are two well written plays, displaying a both very tragic and thematic approach. Although, they take place in two very different time periods, under two very…

One’s sanity is not something you can control. Without sanity comes madness, but it is within our minds and grows over time if not released or helped. For Hamlet, he chooses to give the appearance as if he is mad I order to find the truth about his father’s death. At the beginning of his plan, everything is going good but as time goes by Hamlet is slowly losing control of his madness, and his mind begins to spin out of control. Something that started as an act of insanity or antic disposition…

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, a young prince must avenge his father’s death by killing his uncle who murdered his father and married his widowed mother. This is not a simple task as Hamlet is no murderer, yet by circumstance and chance he is led down a path of no return in which he becomes a murderer, albeit a rightful one, like his uncle. The complex character of Hamlet that develops throughout the play aids in conveying the message of what true nobility is and also helps set…

In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the title character Hamlet’s mind is violently pulled in divergent directions about the morals of murder. He feels an obligation to avenge his father’s death and thinks that it may be excused, since it is a case of “an eye of an eye.” But he is conflicted because the Bible has also taught him that murder is a sin and revenge should be left to God. Hamlet’s struggle to interpret this moral dilemma and his indecision together, are the ultimate cause of…

Throughout the play “Hamlet”, Ophelia grows mad as a result of constant tragedies that she is afflicted with. Act 4, Scene 5 is knows as “Ophelia’s mad scene” because it is in this scene where suddenly begins to go mad. In the scene, she speaks about her father’s death and how he lays in the cold ground. As learned earlier in the play, Hamlet killed Ophelia’s father, Polonius, with the intention of killing his own Uncle. Instead he takes the life of one of the most important people in Ophelia’s…

Hamlet raised his voice to the crowd "This is what you want, yes? A good show?" The crowd cheered in unison, begging the two to get on with their fight. Laertes stomped his foot on the ground in front of him, steadying himself for the next strike. "Hamlet my friend, you know this is futile. Your first hit was out of pure luck. The next three will come from me as a direct result of pure talent. You cannot win." They quietly paced in calculated circles around their stage. Their swords raised high…