Hamlet
Act II
• Laertes is in Paris and needs
money.
• Polonius sends Reynaldo with
money and to spy on Laertes.
• In this act of Hamlet, we see many
“spies”
• Polonius wants Reynaldo to trick
people into telling him the truth
about Laertes.
• Reynaldo will make up wild
stories about Laertes to see if
anyone else has these types of
stories to tell about Laertes.
Polonius to Reynaldo:
“Your bait of falsehood takes this
carp of truth;/And thus do we of
wisdom and of reach,/With
windlasses and with assays of
bias,/By indirections find directions
out.”
II, i, 69-72 (page 76)
• Reynaldo leaves for Paris to spy on
Laertes.
• A terrified Ophelia enters to tell
Polonius about Hamlet’s strange
behavior.
• Ophelia was in her room sewing
when a disheveled Hamlet came
to see her. He didn’t speak but
grabbed her wrist and screamed.
• Ophelia tells Polonius that she did
as Polonius asked and refused to
see Hamlet and refused to receive
his letters to her.
• Polonius thinks that this is the
madness of lost love and has
resolved to go and tell Claudius
about Hamlet’s behavior.
• Polonius also feels that Hamlet is
truly in love with Ophelia and her
refusal to see him has driven him
mad/insane.
• This attitude reported by Ophelia
might seem an actualization of
Hamlet’s scheme to put on an
“antic disposition”.
• However, it may be a sincere
reflection of his real mood. He
went to the woman he loved for
help with his agony, hoping he
could trust her.
II, ii
• Claudius and Gertrude are going
to have Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern spy on Hamlet.
• King Claudius and Gertrude are
aware of Hamlet’s “madness”.
They think the cause is King
Hamlet’s death.
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are
acquaintances of Hamlet.
• The meeting between Claudius
and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
parallels the scene in which
Polonius spies on his Laertes.
• This scene, and the scene between
Hamlet and Ophelia in scene one,
reveals that Hamlet has made
good his proposed façade of
madness.
Voltimand comes with news from
Norway and Fortinbras:
1. The uncle thought that Fortinbras
was planning an attack on Poland.
2. When the uncle looked into the
matter further, he discovered that
Fortinbras was really planning the
attack on Denmark.
3. The uncle told him not to attack
Denmark and Fortinbras vows that
he will not. The uncle gave him an
allowance of three thousand crowns.
4. Fortinbras does, however, want to
attack Poland, and to get there he
needs to cross Denmark.
5. Fortinbras therefore requests from
Claudius a safe conduct pass through
Denmark.
• Claudius tells Voltimand he will
make a decision on this later when
he has the time to think about it.
• Fortinbras is mentioned again
because he will be important at the
end of the play and the audience
needs to be reminded of his power.
• He is also a foil to Hamlet’s
character.
• Polonius enters and tells Claudius
that Hamlet is mad because of
Ophelia’s refusal to see him.
Polonius to Claudius
“I will be brief. Your noble son is
mad.”
II, ii, 98 (Page 88)
• Polonius then reads to Claudius
and Gertrude a letter he sent to
Ophelia.
• Claudius questions the nature of
their relationship and Polonius acts
offended by this question.
• Polonius says that he has told
Ophelia that
“Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy
star./ This must not be.”
II, ii, 150-151 (page 92)
• Hamlet out ranks her social status.
• Polonius also says that he has
forbade Ophelia to see Hamlet, and
her refusal to see him has turned
him mad.
• Plot by Claudius and Polonius:
• They know that Hamlet often
walks in the castle’s main
hallway.
• They will send Ophelia to meet him
and they will hide behind the arras
(tapestry) to see what their
encounter is like and if Hamlet acts
mad.
• If they discover that he is not mad
because of Ophelia, Polonius tells
Claudius to send him to work on a
farm.
• They hear Hamlet coming, and
Polonius tells Claudius and
Gertrude to leave and he will speak
to Hamlet.
• Hamlet is still acting mad when he
has an exchange with Polonius
• He acts like he doesn’t recognize
Polonius.
• Hamlet says that Polonius is a
fishmonger and asks him if he is
honorable.
• This is Hamlet’s way of insulting
Polonius by “mistaking” him for
someone who sells fish.
• Some will suggest that fishmonger
was used as a euphemism for
pimp, and that Hamlet is accusing
Polonius of using his daughter to
curry favor with King Claudius.
• He sacrificed his daughter’s
happiness in order to suck up to
King Claudius.
• Hamlet warns Polonius not to let
Ophelia go any where because she
may become pregnant. He may be
alluding to the type of relationship
he and Ophelia had.
Polonius says to himself about Hamlet
“Though this be madness, yet there is
method/ in’t.” I, ii, 217-218 (page 96)
• Polonius thinks that there is some
reason behind Hamlet’s madness
and might even begin to realize he
is faking it.
• Polonius leaves to go start the plan
with Ophelia acting as spy and is
convinced that this is the madness
of unrequited love. (Another spy)
• Hamlet greets Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern warmly, but he
begins to mistrust their motives
when they disclose that they were
sent for.
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are not
very good spies and Hamlet
quickly catches on to the fact that
they were sent to spy on him.
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern know
that Hamlet is on to them, so they
distract him with news of the
acting troupe’s arrival.
• R & G passed by them on the way
to Elsinore and they tell Hamlet
they are coming to offer their
service
• Hamlet is excited about this news
• Hamlet is excited about this because
it is a piece of the world outside his
“prison”. He thinks of Elsinor as a
prison.
“… for there is nothing either good/
or bad but thinking makes it so.”
Hamlet to Rosencrantz &
Guildenstern
II, ii, 258-9 (page 100).
• R & G tell Hamlet that this acting
company is traveling because a new
company of child actors has
replaced them as the most popular
form of entertainment in their town.
• Before R & G leave Hamlet tells
them, or warns them, that his
madness has an underlying
purpose.
Hamlet to R & G
“I am but mad north-north-west.
When the wind is/southerly I know a
hawk from a handsaw.”
II, ii, 368-9 (page 108)
• Polonius re-enters and Hamlet
refers to him as Jephthah.
• This is a biblical reference.
Jephthah was a man who sacrificed
his daughter.
• Polonius, like Jephthah in the Bible,
is willing to sacrifice his daughter
for worldly gain. Polonius misses
the analogy and uses Hamlet’s
comment for his own use.
• Enter the First Player (actor) and
the rest of the actors.
• The First Player gives aspeech and
it is a speech about dead fathers.
This is used to gain the audience’s
attention as to what will happen
next.
• Hamlet asks the First Player to
perform the play The Murder of
Gonzago and insert some additional
lines that he will write into the play.
• Hamlet is left alone and gives us his
second soliloquy.
• His second major soliloquy concerns
the flaws Hamlet recognizes within
himself.
• Hamlet is consumed by guilt at his
failure to obey the ghost’s request
to seek revenge.
• He finishes the soliloquy by
revealing his plan for the
performance.
• This plan shows his apparent
procrastination: he still is unsure
about the origin of the ghost and
this must be resolved before he can
take action.
• He thinks that the spirit might
have been sent by the devil to
tempt him, so he will have the
players enact a scene like his
uncle’s alleged crime.
• If Claudius responds with
recognition, Hamlet may then
assume him guilty and feel justified
in taking revenge.
“The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll
catch the conscience of the King.”
Hamlet about Claudius
II, ii, 585-6 (page 122)