Branagh's Hamlet

[Aurora]

Thoughts? Was he wrong to portray the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia as a sexual one?

[Gladys]

Did Branagh really suggest the relationship was sexual? Does angry Hamlet's sexual gibes suggest this in the play?

[Aurora]

I was more referring to Ophelia's flashbacks but I think the gibes are ambiguous in the play and have much more meaning in the movie

[Gladys]

Rereading mad Ophelia's words in the play, she seems to be chiding Hamlet for deflowering her, although she is probably remembering Hamlet's courtship through the eyes of bereaved madness. Ophelia is distressed, deluded and gravely undone, with no longer a lover or father. Yet almost certainly, both Laertes and Polonius had believed her chaste.

Nevertheless it is possible she was not and, therefore, Branagh's sexual interpretation is viable. Her loss of virginity may then have contributed to her madness.

[ralfyman]

There's nothing wrong with that. It's always good to see various interpretations of the characters.

[xman]

'Wrong'? Certainly not. In drama, usually anything which 'raises the stakes' as we say is a good thing.

[kelby_lake]

I believe it was always hinted that Hamlet and Ophelia had a sexual relationship. In her mad trance, she sings a song about a maiden being undone.