Comparing Productions of Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. (Part 1 of 4)

A short excerpt from Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2 as seen in multiple film productions.

Part 1 includes:

Sir Laurence Olivier and Felix Aylmer (Hamlet - 1948)
Sir Derek Jacobi and Eric Porter (Hamlet - 1980)
Iain Glen and Ian Richardson (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - 1990)
Mel Gibson and Ian Holm (Hamlet - 1990)

Part 2 includes:

Kenneth Branagh and Richard Briers (Hamlet - 1996)
Ethan Hawke and Bill Murray (Hamlet - 2000)
David Tennant and Oliver Ford Davies (Hamlet - 2009)

Part 3 includes:

Richard Burton and Hume Cronyn (Hamlet - 1964)
Tony & David Meyer and Quentin Crisp (Hamlet - 1976)
Wilson Belchambers and Lydia Piechowiak (Hamlet - 2007)
William Houston and David Powell-Davies (Hamlet - 2003)

Part 4 includes:

Kevin Kline and Josef Summer (Hamlet - 1990)
Innokenti Smoktunovsky and Yuri Tolubeyev (Gamlet - 1964)
Pirkka-Pekka Petelius and Esko Nikkari (Hamlet liikemaailmassa - 1987)
Adrian Lester and Bruce Myers (Hamlet - 2002)



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LORD POLONIUS O, give me leave: How does my good Lord Hamlet?

HAMLET Well, God-a-mercy.

LORD POLONIUS Do you know me, my lord?

HAMLET Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

LORD POLONIUS Not I, my lord.

HAMLET Then I would you were so honest a man.

LORD POLONIUS Honest, my lord!

HAMLET Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.

LORD POLONIUS That's very true, my lord.

HAMLET For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion,--Have you a daughter?

LORD POLONIUS I have, my lord.

HAMLET Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive. Friend, look to 't.

LORD POLONIUS [Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter: yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love; very near this. I'll speak to him again. What do you read, my lord?

HAMLET Words, words, words.

LORD POLONIUS What is the matter, my lord?

HAMLET Between who?

LORD POLONIUS I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

HAMLET Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.

LORD POLONIUS [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?

HAMLET Into my grave.

LORD POLONIUS Indeed, that is out o' the air. Aside How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter.--My honourable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.

HAMLET You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal: except my life, except my life, except my life.

LORD POLONIUS Fare you well, my lord.

HAMLET These tedious old fools!

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• hamlet
• polonius
• comparison
• shakespeare
• claudius
• laurence olivier
• eric porter
• ian holm
• fishmonger
• mel gibson
• derek jacobi

[JohnKFisher]

Part 3 is now posted.

[RandomCountryGirl]

Thanks for uploading this. Jacobi's version is my favorite, I think it's hysterical :) This is my favorite piece of the whole play.

[Thorne42]

Derek Jacobi is the best in my opinion. I simply can't fault his performance (and yes, I have seen the whole of his performance, and not just this extract)

[wonka320]

Oh god, my mistake! You have a russian Hamlet! I have no words, you did a great job putting all these films together. Thank you a lot

[SpiderXxPirate]

Ahaa I love R&G are Dead!! But Glen is not the strongest Hamlet.

[xfearslovex]

I'm going to do this scene in my acting class for my final.

[manitot]

I liked Iain Glen's and Ian Richardson's because of the extra clip not included here (/watch?v=6LO4EQcMR2Q). Tennant's was enjoyable and so was Jacobi's last bit.

[jondrowe]

The 'except my life' bit from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is one of my favourites. I'm sorry you couldn't include it.

[01TheatreVids01]

@01TheatreVids01 Wilson Belchambers looks the right age as well, but the production looks very strange. What exactly was it? A television movie? Independent film?

[01TheatreVids01]

The sad fact is that Iain Glen and Ethan Hawke are the only ones who look and sound (roughly) the right age, but Hawke is just lost and Glen is wonderful but reduced to a supporting role since it's not actually Hamlet. David Tennant doesn't quite read "college student" but he has the youthful energy pretty much everyone else lacks.

[SkippyZ1210]

I have to agree with GraceNote. Olivier's performance is the most faithful to the poetry, and yes, is the most natural and holds my interest. Tenant's version--although he did great justice to the role overall--seemed too kinetic to me in this scene. The worst is Branagh's because he lost me in the first several seconds with his inexplicable outburst. He is followed close behind at list bottom by Ethan Hawke...Iain Glen isn't bad...