The 1948 Hamlet, Reaction Paper Example

The 1948 Hamlet, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, reveals a haunting and modern interpretation still in force all these years later. Olivier, exercising total control over the production, achieved an almost eerie balance between classic and anticipated presentation and disturbing shades of unexpected meaning.

Of all the many film versions, Olivier’s stands out because of one, usually overlooked element that has enormous impact for his treatment of the story: the actor’s handsomeness. In effect Olivier uses his own good looks to present a Hamlet who is an entitled prince, indulged in all his life and therefore more free to vent his desires and emotions. This Hamlet is nearly petulant and smug, and the performance seems all the more real because of it.

Then, Olivier’s attractiveness gives the actor/director the opportunity to explore perhaps hidden motives within the character. While never once overtly suggested, there is an aspect of muddled sexuality in this film. It is interesting that Olivier cast Eileen Herlie, eleven years his junior, to portray Gertrude; the evident youth of the queen compounds the Oedipal conflict from the second scene in the first act on. The horror of his mother’s sensuality in marrying his uncle is a powerful undercurrent, and one the audience feels as an actual source of disgust to the prince. It is not Gertrude’s treachery or ambition that pains Hamlet, but her lust.

This fuels further sexual tension in the Act III confrontation between Hamlet and Ophelia. Here again, Olivier’s “pretty boy” abuse of her indicates a hostility beyond any need to dismiss her because of his agenda, or even the foul opinion of women his mother has bred in him. Here, he seems to regard Ophelia almost as a threat, and his cruel dismissal of her could be interpreted as a charade intended to remove this potential mating from his life. The brilliance of this lies not in its shades of a confused sexual identity within Hamlet as such, but more in how Olivier and Shakespeare represent that sexuality is never an isolated element of a person’s being to begin with.