In Kenneth Branagh's movie of Hamlet, I was wondering what the significance of the doors in the walls were, like, what is their symbolic meaning? I have to do an in-class essay soon, comparing Branagh's version of Hamlet to Shakespeare's Hamlet. I've read the few questions in this forum that relate to similar english papers that people needed to do. I was just wondering if there are any other little things that i should be aware of and that i could include in my essay. Much Thanks!

-- wing (stars_tenshi@yahoo.ca), November 30, 2003

Answers

One of the greatest and most constant motifs in Hamlet is that of "spying", be it the guards at watch in Scene I, the opening and reading of personal letters (II.ii & V.ii), eavesdropping on others (III.i & III.iv) and then you have the ear imagery, such as the obvious (the poison in the ear). And when Hamlet says "You shall not do my ear that violence to make it truster of your own report" the irony is horribly prophetic. I think Kenny Branagh wanted to make an Elsinore Castle of all these two-way mirrors and hidden and secret doors to emphasize these motifs.

-- Jimmy Bastard (the_bastard_squad@yahoo.com), December 01, 2003.

Much thanks. I hope it helps tomorrow when I start writing my essay. I was just notified that I have to compare the three versions of Hamlet: Shakespeare's version of Hamlet, Branagh's version of Hamlet, and Gibson's version of Hamlet!!!

-- wing (stars_tenshi@yahoo.ca), December 03, 2003.

In addition to the response above, I also likened the secret passageways to worms in a fruit. Denmark is rotten, decaying from within.

-- Goladus (Goladus@Goladus.com), April 03, 2004.

Yeah, rightio, mate...

-- Jimmy Bastard (The_Bastard_Squad@yahoo.com), April 03, 2004.

So, comrade, you don't think that the spying you speak of represents a hidden evil? You don't think that the result of all that spying was the tragic conclusion? You perhaps think that Branagh's version of Elsinore ~just happened~ to be magnificent, pristine, and immaculate? By chance?

Fair enough, but even so I think it's a great metaphor. To a casual viewer, Elsinore is a beautiful castle. Francisco, in scene two, seems unaware of the presence of the secret passageway. The intrigues: the purposes mistook, falling on the inventor's heads; the unnatural acts; the accidental judgments... All invisible to the casual onlooker, just like the passages. When you know it, though, it's a twisted place with hidden evils.

-- Goladus (Goladus@goladus.com), May 27, 2004.

I like it too.

-- catherine england (catherine.england@arts.usyd.edu.au), May 27, 2004.