Harry Potter: and the Ghost of Denmark

     Over the years there have been so many different renditions of Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. While most of them are very dark, some push the limits and set the story in a different time period and an unrelated setting, but we should not only think outside the box, but destroy the box completely and integrate Hamlet into Harry Potter!!
     If we were to give the cast of Hamlet alternate characters from Harry Potter, Claudius would be Voldemort because he creates his first horcrux by killing his muggle father to become immortal. Both Claudius and Voldemort murder one of their family members, which was their first steps towards power, good or evil. Hamlet would (hopefully) be Dumbledore because they both are brilliant boys who have a passion for learning and reading, but both fall of the deep end. Dumbledore becomes obsessed with being possessing all the Deathly Hallows and becoming the Master of Death, resulting in the death of his sister, and Hamlet is torn between honoring his father's memory be avenging his death. Dumbledore and Hamlet both have to kill someone to avenge a family member. In a legendary battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Dumbledore murders Grindelwald for killing his sister and introducing him to the Deathly Hallows. Hamlet, on the other hand, has to kill his uncle to avenge his fathers death. But I hope that Hamlet recovers and goes on to be a great man like Dumbledore. Gertrude would be Professor McGonagall, because even though she seems to just be a clueless second in command to Dumbledore, she knows a lot more than she leads on like Gertrude.
     In a scene with our new characters, Dumbledore (Hamlet) will have a blow out battle with Voldemort (Claudius) with streaming green and red flashes coming from their wands. Sadly, they are trying to kill each other to save the future of the Wizarding World! Voldemort is trying to take out his Dumbledore because he is standing  in his way of terrorizing everyone, just like Claudius is trying to send Hamlet back to England and to his death. Harry Potter: and the Ghost of Denmark would be awesome!

To be, or not to be

     "To be, or not to be." Easily on of (if not the) most famous line Shakespeare has ever written, puts Hamlet's inner struggle of continuing in this world, or ending his life into words. He weights the absolute despair in life to the unknown in death in his soliloquy represented by David Tennant and Kenneth Branagh.

     Although both actors playing Hamlet are saying the same words, the way they present them leaves me with two completely different interpretations. I thought that David Tennant successfully sought escape from his life with burgeoning hunger and all together seemed more genuinely worried about death than Kenneth Branagh. I was able to distinguish when he started questioning death as a true escape while, Branagh seemed to be in love with the idea with suicide throughout the scene. When I finished watching Branagh's interpretation of Hamlet's soliloquy I was reminded of a man who didn't really believe in the institution of marriage on his wedding day. Branagh was in love with suicide but even when he weighed the con's of death, there was an underlying love for the idea. He is the groom who knows he is in love with his fiancé but is afraid of marriage or scared of commitment. Branagh just seemed like he had "cold feet" but knew he would go through with the wedding because he loved his fiancé, death. 

Edit, Revise, Cut, Check, Polish, and Publish!

Original:
     Ultimately, the very old man with enormous wings is able to endure the winter, grow his feathers back, and fly away proving himself an angel. In the very last line, Peloya “kept watching him… and she kept watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life.” Peloya is proven completely wrong when the very old man takes flight, instead of being regretful or ashamed in the way she had treated him she is glad to see him go because only then was he “no longer an annoyance in her life.” Marquez sets up this last opportunity for Peloya to prove that she is not heartless, but instead she is glad to see him go because he was no longer a burden. 

Revised:
     Peloya and Elisenda watch the very old man with enormous wings endure the winter and fly away, proving his supernatural abilities, which highlight Marquez’s the last irony; the contradicting opinions of the angel ultimately change nothing. In the very last line, Peloya “kept watching him… and she kept watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life.” Instead of Marquez depicting Peloya as being regretful or ashamed in the way she had treated the angel, she is glad to see him go because only then was he “no longer an annoyance in her life.” Marquez sets up this last opportunity for Peloya to prove that she is not heartless, but instead she is glad to see him go because he was no longer a burden.

Expectations Vs. Reality?

As I was watching the director’s interpretation of what he thought he had portrayed in his scene, I expected there to be more emotion and reaction in the characters. Personally, I thought that both actors playing Hamlet and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father looked like they were staring wide eyed with shock, but expressionless and never changed throughout the entire scene. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father was just telling the story of his death like it was, but seemed to be talking through his son with no sense of recognition; while Hamlet simply stared at his father, paralyzed by fear.

Throughout the entire scene all we hear is the Ghost of Hamlet’s fathers voice, which took away from the scene because I was constantly reminded of Lord Voldemort’s voice right before he was resurrected in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In both the scene and the movie, I thought that the voice was supposed to show weakness and illustrate how close the characters were to death. But, when I read Act 1 Scene 5, I didn’t expect the ghost to sound any different than the way he had his entire life. The ghost’s narration of the scene also took away from the pain in his death. Shakespeare gives us all of these descriptive details of King Hamlet’s death, which weren’t fully developed on screen. This scene would better delivered the pain of dying better if we could actually hear him scream.

I would have been more empathetic towards the actors if they had shown more hard-hitting emotions through their facial expressions or flocculation in their voices. I expected Hamlet to see Hamlet’s wheels turning as he figures out the man who murdered his father was his uncle, and then grow more and more angry as he realizes the nature of his relationship with his mother. I also expected to really see the Ghost of Hamlet’s father break down as he reminisces over the love he and his wife had, and then see his wife in a lustful, incestuous, and adulterous relationship with his brother break his heart. 

 

King Claudius's Alternative Motives

Any man who marries his brother’s wife and then closes out his nephew, and new son from any escape, after the sudden death of King Hamlet: a brother, a husband, and a father, has alternative motives for his actions. King Claudius is a greedy, and power hungry brother who was constantly out-shown by his brother until he turned the tables on him.

King Claudius takes advantage of his brother’s passing to gain nothing but personal power. The only reason that someone would bypass the mourning of a family member is if it made things more convenient, or if they could gain something from their death. King Claudius marries queen Gertrude not only to secure his position as King, but also to prevent the thrown to be given to the prince, Hamlet. Very nonchalantly King Claudius says that Gertrude went from being “our sometime sister” to “our queen” (1.1.8) Within the month of King Hamlet’s death, Gertrude simply goes from being a sister to a wife, and from a widow, to a remarried woman almost as if it was some sort of business deal.

Shortly after King Hamlet died, Claudius just swoops in, marries Prince Hamlet’s mom, steals his place in the kingdom and holds Hamlet in the ruined family dynamic. Instead of banishing Hamlet from the kingdom because he is a potential threat to his thrown, he holds him hostage in the kingdom because he knows it is more painful for him. Claudius knows that he disapproves of his marriage, so he doesn’t let Hamlet return to school in Wittenberg. Hamlet believes that she “ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes” (1.2.160). Hamlet believes that his mother should be mourning the death of her husband instead of moving on so quickly with her brother-in-law. He cannot come to terms with why he is mourning his father’s death and why his mother is not. Claudius forces Hamlet to endure his own living hell in his castle, and under his rule.