HAMLET: ACT TWO SCENE TWO STUDY GUIDE

Hamlet 2.2: OVERVIEW

·  Spy motif continued and news from Norway

King Claudius and Queen Gertrude have sent for Hamlet’s friends at university to check on his behavior and mood. King Claudius calls Hamlet’s change in behavior, ‘transformation’; Polonius calls it lunacy. But realize this: King Claudius and Queen Gertrude are referring more to Hamlet’s melancholy. They do not know about Hamlet’s behavior when he visited Ophelia all disheveled in her closet.

The audience knows it for what it is an antic disposition, aka feigned behavior or pretense. An irony in this scene is Queen Gertrude’s perception. Normally she is not quick-witted; however, in this scene she is the one who nails it, correctly pin-points the reason for Hamlet’s change in behavior.

View 2.2.1-58 AND TAKE NOTES:

Meanwhile…..we learn from King Claudius’s emissaries to Norway, Voltemand and Cornelius, that Prince Fortinbras told his uncle, King Fortinbras (who ascended to the throne after the death of King Fortinbras much like King Claudius ascended to the thrown after the death of King Hamlet) that he was going to attack “the Polack”; however, he was really preparing to march to and against Denmark. The uncle stops young Fortinbras and gives him “…threescore thousand crowns in annual fee/And his commission to employ those soldiers/So levied (as before) against the Polack.” (2.2.73-75) Fortinbras accepts this deal but asks, through Voltemand and Cornelius for King Claudius’ permission to “…give quiet pass/Through your dominions for this enterprise/On such regards of safety and allowance/As therein are set down.” (2.2.77-80) He is granted permission. (**more on this later)

Polonius tells King Claudius and Queen Gertrude that he thinks Hamlet is in “…the very ecstasy of love” meaning he is “mad” for Ophelia’s love since she rejected him. Polonius provides the backstory and owns up to his part in it: he tells King Claudius and Queen Gertrude that he had instructed Ophelia not to see Hamlet, “…admit no messengers, and receive no tokens…” (2.2.141) and because of Ophelia’s apparent rejection of Hamlet, Hamlet “Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,/Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,/Thence to a lightness, and by this declension/Into the madness wherein now he raves,/And all we mourn for” (2.2.144-148)

Polonius has just described the class symptoms of love-melancholy. We wrote the conventions of an ‘antic disposition’ or feigned madness on the board last week. This is very similar. The audience will know exactly what Polonius means by that description.

Polonius proposes a plan: he and King Claudius will stage an encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet but and watch what happens from behind a curtain. (2.2.159-164)

Meanwhile….Hamlet has confronted Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about spying on him for King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, and they admit it. He is their old school chum; however, they could not refuse the King. A loyal subject to the Crown could never refuse a request.

REVIEW: Act Two, Scene Two Questions:

1.Why has Claudius sent for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? Why are lines 7-10 particularly significant?
2.Is Claudius' motivation for spying on Hamlet mere concern for Hamlet's well-being?
3.Do you think, at this point in the play, Claudius knows Hamlet is pretending to be insane? Why would Rosencrantz start discussingambitionwith Hamlet (line 244)?
4.Analyze lines 25-32. Do you think Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are motivated by a desire to help Hamlet or to please Claudius?
5.Polonius tells Claudius he knows the reason for Hamlet's strange behavior, yet he makes Claudius wait to hear the news (line 51). Surprisingly, Claudius agrees to wait. Does this tell you something about the nature of the King? Of Polonius?
6.Voltimand and Cornelius have returned from their mission to ask old Norway to restrain his hot-blooded nephew, Fortinbras. Here we learn old Norway has agreed to redirect Fortinbras to Poland. What are the possible reasons for including Fortinbras in this busy scene?
7.Feigning madness gives Hamlet an outlet for expressing his true thoughts, no matter how offensive. What does he really think of Polonius, as seen in lines 194-202?
8.How does Hamlet feel about the players? Do we get a sense of Hamlet in better days?
9.Hamlet asks, "Am I a coward?" (543). Do you feel Hamlet is a coward?
10.Do you believe Hamlet's doubts about the Ghost are genuine or an excuse to delay the murder?
11.Can you summarize Hamlet's plot to use the players to "catch the conscience of the king" (579)?