Zeffirelli's hamlet

[Taezer]

Why do you think that Zeffirelli protrays Hamlets "discussion" with his mother after the "mousetrap" play with incestuous sexuality. IS there a deeper reason for it or is he just trying to show that his mother is a whore.

[eflotsam]

IMHO, Zeffirelli was using Freudian philosophy / psychotherapy techniques to make that leap. He was suggesting through the film that Hamlet had an Oedipal complex, very popular at the time.

The text would suggest that Hamlet doesn't even believe that his mother has the capacity for passion...
Quoting the chamber scene:
"Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this?"

Zeffirelli fits Hamlet into the mold of Oedipus by suggesting that Hamlet was jealous of Gertrude's judgment to marry Claudius. It's a huge stretch that's no longer believable today.

[kelby_lake]

Why do you think that Zeffirelli protrays Hamlets "discussion" with his mother after the "mousetrap" play with incestuous sexuality. IS there a deeper reason for it or is he just trying to show that his mother is a whore.

Oedipal complex mixed with fanatical Puritanism.