Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be..."

       In the first video, Mel Gibson portrays Hamlet and says the "To Be Or Not To Be.." speech as he walks down into a dark, dreary basement. A creepy feeling comes over you as you see the skulls and statues of corpses in the basement as he walks around. Hamlet seems dreary himself and speaks in a low voice but then begins to get louder and angry in the middle of the speech. It is clear that Hamlet is in a bad state of mind and he begins to talk to one of the statues of a dead person. This makes the viewers realize that he is deciding whether to live or not to live which has been a major battle within himself. He is suffering from depression and being in this dark, scary basement is not helping him get any better but he does decide not to kill himself for the sole reason that he is not sure if death could be worse than his life is at the current moment.
      Hamlets internal struggle to live or not to live is also shown in Lawrence Oliver's version of Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be.." speech. This version appears in black and white and is even creepier than Mel Gibson's version in the beginning. Unlike Mel Gibson's Hamlet who says the entire speech outloud, Lawrence Oliver subconsciously says part of the speech as he pulls a knife out of his shirt and moves it toward his neck. Lawrence is also sitting on a high cliff above the ocean where he could jump off of and kill himself. Here there are two obvious attempts to kill himself where in Mel Gibson's version he does not show any attempt at all. You have to look deeper into Mel Gibson's version to understand his internal battle to kill himself or stay alive.
     Kenneth Branaugh's version of the "To Be Or Not To Be.." speech does not really compare to either of the other speeches because it is clearly not serious. This version had a strange feeling to it but I did not get a creepy or dark feeling from it at all. Kenneth Branaugh walks into a bright, colorful room in a mansion and looks into a mirror. He recites the speech to the reflection of himself unlike Mel Gibson who is speaking to statues and skulls. It is hard to see the fight between life and death in this character because he never seems to be completely serious throughout the speech. It is almost comical when he pulls his weapon out of his shirt like Lawrence Oliver did because it is a  puny knife that doesn't even look sharp enough to do any damage. The best portrayal of Hamlet's struggle between life and death is shown in Mel Gibson's version. Although you may have to look deeper into this version, it had the darkest feel to it with all of the skulls and statues and he showed the most emotion.