Hamlet

            
             William Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of literature's greatest plays. Throughout the years, this play has been interpreted and re-imagined by many different people and directors. Various versions of this play have been performed or put on the movie screen; almost every one of these unlike the next. When this play is brought to mind, I picture it as set back in the renaissance period with armed knights in armor and castles that hold kings and queens. Since this play cannot just be taken at face value, because of its hidden meanings and themes, it can be presented in many forms and time periods. The play deals with issues of morality, and psychology, which can be brought out in a different adaptation of the story that is more expressive of modern times. If I were to direct a production of Hamlet it would be made as a movie. This movie would take place in the mid 1800's in one of the southern states in the USA. .
             Though the scene I picked to direct in my own way does not involve all of the characters in the play, it is necessary to tell a little about whom they are, and how they are tied to the main story line. In my version, King Hamlet would have been a very wealthy plantation owner who lives in a giant ranch house, with his wife Gertrude and their son Hamlet. Less than a quarter mile down the road, still on the same giant plantation, lives Polonious, with his son and daughter Ophelia. Claudius had been living in a different part of the country until recently, and now resides in one of the plantations guesthouses. Claudius soon becomes jealous of Hamlet Sr. and becomes friends with Gertrude. Eventually Claudius feels that his life is greatly incomplete and he decides that he wants to possess all of what is his brother has. One day Claudius was finally determined to do something about his situation. Claudius ordered one of the plantation's Negro slaves to find Hamlet Sr. and put a couple drops of poison in his ear.