ark and expressionistic world of the 1948 film fits quite well with the internal brooding of Hamlet.
Indeed, the nature of Denmark in the 1948 version fits better with the intent of the play than does that seen in the Zeffirelli film. At the beginning of the play, the kingdom is in turmoil, and the nightly appearance of the Ghost underscores rather than causes this turmoil. The disorder in the kingdom derives from the fact that the natural order has been challenged by a regicide, the murder of a king, made all the worse because the king has been murdered by his wife and brother. In the course of the play, Hamlet is to act to restore the natural order by avenging his father. The appearance of the Ghost at the beginning of the play shows the degree to which the natural order has been sundered--the dead do not remain in their graves. Hamlet is told what to do by the ghost of his father, whom he meets on the ramparts at night, a portent to all of things to come. The effects of a regicide are seen in stor
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