Act II Answer Key
1. Where does Polonius send Reynaldo? Why?
Polonius sends Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes and to take him money
and messages.
2. Why does Polonius think Hamlet is "mad"?
He thinks Ophelia's rejections have been too much for Hamlet, that Hamlet
is love-sick.
3. Why have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to the castle?
They have come to find out why Hamlet is acting so strangely and to report
their findings to the King.
4. What is Polonius' plan for testing his theory that Hamlet is lovecrazy?
He wants to have Hamlet meet Ophelia. He (Polonius) will hide and
eavesdrop on the conversation to determine whether or not Hamlet is lovesick.
5. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern finally meet with Hamlet, and Hamlet
discovers they were sent for by the King. How does Hamlet describe his
personal problems to them? What does he tell them?
Hamlet basically says that he thought the world was wonderful and man was
the most wonderful part of the world, but now he finds that things are not
wonderful. He finds no delight in man or woman.
6. What arrangement does Hamlet make with Player 1?
He arranges to have several of his own lines put into the play (to make the
action of the play as closely related to the actual events of his father's murder
as possible).
7. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave Hamlet, what does he
basically say in his soliloquy?
He thinks himself a coward for not getting right to the revenge.