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.