Ghost Scene

          The Ghost scene I liked the best was the Kenneth Branagh version.  The director (Branagh) makes everything bright and happy in the scene where everyone is inside the palace where they are all cheerful and happy, except Hamlet. Who is the only one that is dark and is dressed in black in the middle of all this brightness and cheerfulness, wearing only black and still mourning his fathers death.  But as things get darker and darker when the guards lead Hamlet outside to try and talk to the ghost of his dead father.  But when Hamlet tries to talk to it, he flies away wanting him to follow it.  The other guards will not let him go.  He eventually breaks free and is able to follow the ghost. 
          When Hamlet goes into the forest things become extremely dark.  As he is running through the forest looking for his fathers ghost he runs into explosions and earthquakes and then the ground begins to breaks up causing the illusion that Hamlet has now entered a living hell.  When he finally comes across his fathers ghost he begins to speak to him.  Portraying his father in a suit of armor with his eyes as blue as the mid day sky, means that he is ready for a fight.  He doesn't want to fight with Norway, but with someone inside his own country. 
           When Hamlet's father (the dead king of Denmark) was talking about how he was murdered, the director was using elements such as flashbacks to show how he was killed.  He also used it to reveal where he was at the time.  But the main element was revealing that it was a serpent that had killed him, a serpent that was now wearing his crown and married to his wife.  It was indeed his own brother that had put a poison in his ear to kill him, and now he wears his crown and is married to his wife.  By Branagh only showing the ghosts mouth, you can focus on what he's saying and not what he looks like.  Then when he shows Hamlets eyes you can see the fear in them, but also you can see the belief of what his father is telling him.  Finally by showing the ghosts eyes you can see the death in him.