| 概要 |
There are two movie versions of Shakespeare's Henry V in this century: one is Laurence 0livier's (1944) and the other is Kenneth Branagh's (l989). In this paper I will examine these two versions along... with stage performances in England in 1997: specifically, productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company (at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Barbican), and by the Globe Company of Actors at the Globe Theatre. When comparing the movie versions with stage perfomances it is immediately noticeable that a movie director has more freedom than a stage director because the former has fewel limitations and can use camera techniques such as close-ups and slow-motion which are unavailable in the theatre. Each movie focuses on a particular message: Laurence Olivier aims to show the past glory of England and to encourage English people to fight Germany while Kenneth Branagh concentrates on the misery of war within the context of the Cold War and Vietnam. 0iivger and Branagh have completely different views of the play, each affected by their respective historical situations. I argue, however, that Branagh's movie better reflects Shakespeare's intentions than Olivier's because the latter overstates Shakespeare's emphasis on the importance of National prestige. Stage performances have also offered widely different interpretations of the play. In 1997, I saw two versions that gave very different senses of Henry V. The Royal Shakespeare Company, for example, almost omitted the scene in which the Archbishop of Canterbury explains to the King that he has the right of succession to the French crown. This scene, however, is of great importance because the Salic law is closely connected to the theme of the play. That law is antithetical to the action of the play in which Henry unites masculinity with femininity by marrying Katherine, who represents feminine characteristics (this is demonstrated by her learning English from Alice after Henry's threatening speech before the governor of Harfleur). Of cource, movie and stage directors have a licence to adapt and appropriate as they interpret the play, but this can sometimes lead to a distortion of Shakespeare's original intentions.続きを見る
|
Mendeley出力
slc010sip031