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)