Act 2
Consists of two
quick scenes. This
act has the least
amount of scenes in
the play.
Act 2: scene 1
Hamlet appeared disheveled and was
dressed loosely as was the custom for
men in love; he appears truly in love
with Ophelia, but very strange.
Is is possible that Hamlet is acting like a
fool in love so that no one will suspect
him of wrong doing?
Ophelia is confused, naïve, weak and
dependent on her father and his
guidance and advice.
Polonius will go to Claudius to take care
of the matter of Hamlet pursuing his
daughter. He doesn’t deal with it
himself which shows that he too isn’t
much of a leader, but a follower of sorts.
Act 2: scene 1
See you now/ Your bait of
falsehood take 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. (I,i,69-75)
This description of Polonius’
method for discovering truth
defines very nicely the way the
court in which he is chief councilor
operates. Find other examples of
this movement by “indirection.”
Why is it necessary in this world?
Act 2: scene 1
Polonius: This business is well ended./ My liege, and madam, to
expostulate/ What majesty should be, what duty is,/ Why day
is day, night night, and time is time/ Were nothing but to waste
night, day and time./ Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit/
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,/ I will be
brief. Your noble son is mad./ “Mad” call I it, for, to define true
madness,/ What is ‘t but to be nothing else but mad? But let
that go.
Queen: More matter with less art.
Polonius: Madam, I swear I use no art at all./ That he’s mad, ‘tis
true; ‘tis true ‘tis pity,/ And pity ‘tis ‘tis true-a foolish figure,/ But
farewell it, for I will use no art… (II, ii, 91-107)
Why might this be an example?
Act 2: scene 1
Ophelia: My lord. As I was sewing in my closet,/ Lord Hamlet, with his
doublet all unbraced,/ No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled,/
Ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle,/ Pale as his shirt, his
knees knocking each other,/ And with a look so piteous in purport/
As if he had been loosed out of hell/ To speak of horrors- he comes
before me.
Polonius: Mad for thy love?…
Ophelia: He took me by the wrist and held me hard/ Then goes he to
the length of all his arm,/ And with his other hand thus o’er his
brow,/ He falls to such perusal of my face/ As he would draw it…/
My good lord, but as you did command/ I did repel his letters and
denied/ His access to me.
Act 2: scene 2
Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern arrive on
Gertrude’s and Claudius’
orders to spy on Hamlet
At first, Hamlet is glad to see h is old friends “My
excellent good friends! How dost thou/ Guildenstern?
Ah Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do/ you both?”
(242-244).
However, he believes Denmark to be a “prison” so he
doesn’t understand why they would come. He
suspects that they were sent for and they admit it:
Guildenstern: “My lord, we were sent for” (315)
Act 2: scene 2
Fortinbras will not seek revenge on Denmark and the Kin gof
Norway has given him extra money for his army to attack
Poland. Fortinbras seeks permission from Claudius to pass
through Denmark on his way to Poland; Claudius grants him
permission.
Polonius decides to meet Hamlet himself and chat with him so
that he may understand whether or not he is truly mad. Later,
he plans on spying on him as he meets secretly with his
daughter Ophelia.
Act 2: scene 2
Hamlet had walked into the room reading a book. What do you think of this?
Polonius: [aside] How say you by that? Still harping on/ my daughter. Yet he knew m
not at first; he said I/ was a fishmonger. He is far gone. And truly, in my/ youth, I
suffered much extremity for love, very near/ this. I’ll speak to him again.- What do
you read, my/ lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord.
Hamlet: Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here/ that old men have gray
beards, that their faces are/ wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and/ plumtree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of/ wit, together with most weak
hams; all which, sir,/ though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I/ hold it
not honesty to have it thus set down; for/ yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if,
like a crab,/ you could go backward.
Polonius: [aside] Though this be madness, yet there is/method in ‘it, - Will you walk
out of the air, my lord?
Hamlet: Into my grave?
Act 2: scene 2
Critics have been painfully
anxious to settle the question of
Hamlet’s madness. Looking at
the way he manages Polonius
and Rosencratnz and
Guildenstern in these scenes, can
you see any evidence for arguing
that Hamlet is truly mad? Can
you see, perhaps, why in a world
so practical and “sane” he might
be considered mad?
Act 2: scene 2
Hamlet: [aside] These tedious old fools (237)
Hamlet: [aside] Nay, then, I have an eye of you. - If/ you love
me, hold not off. (313-314)
Hamlet: Why did you laugh, then, when I said “man delights not
in me” (337-338)
Hamlet: I am but mad north-north-west. When the/ wind is
southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. ( 402-403)
Act 2: scene 2
In what ways does Hamlet’s famous speech “What a piece of
work is a man” explain his melancholy? Compare the beliefs he
once held about man and the world with the realities that are
unfolding in Elsinore Castle.
Act 2: scene 2
Hamlet: I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation / prevent your discovery,
and your secrecy to the/ King and Queen molt no feather. I have of
late, but/ wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all/ custom of
exercises, and, indeed, it goes so heavily/ with my disposition that this
goodly frame, the/ earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most/
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’er/hanging firmament,
this majestical roof, fretted/ with golden fire- why, it appeareth nothing
to me/ but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. / What a piece of
work is a man, how noble in/ reason, how infinite in faculties, in form
and moving/ how express and admirable; in action how like/ an angel,
in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of
animals- and/ yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man/
delight not me, no nor women neither, though by/ your smiling you
seem to say so. (316-334)
Act 2: scene 2
One critic has suggested that the dominant
tone of Hamlet is set by the frequent
questions asked, ranging from such
apparently trivial ones as “Who’s there” - the
opening line of the play- to much gigantic
questions as “What should such fellows as I
do crawling between earth and heaven?”
Select several of Hamlet’s most crucial
questions, discuss them, and show how the
issues they raise are central to the play.
Act 2: scene 2
The second soliloquy takes place in this
act and scene. This will be discussed
later on in the unit.