[Act Two Answers]
The Plot
Ê
What? Why? How? Imagery and Symbolism
Question 1 (Pyrrhus similar to Hamlet
and Claudius) Question 1 (Disease and Decay)
Question 2 (Why Hamlet wants Pyrrhus
and Priam speech) Themes
Question 3 (Hamlet's crazy remarks) Question 1 (Acting a part)
Question 4 (Character of Polonius) Question 2 (The time is out of
joint)
Question 5 (The devil an excuse?) Question 3 (Remembering and
Forgetting)
Question 6 (Reasons for delay) Ê
Question 7 (Types of madness) Ê
Question 8 (Causes of madness) Ê
Question 9 (Claudius a good king?) Ê
Question 10 (Polonius and Reynaldo) Ê
Act Two Answers Ê
The Plot (Delete as appropriate)
Polonius dispatches Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris
by indirect means, using a 'bait of falsehood' to
discover the truth. Ophelia enters in a panic, reports
that Hamlet, in a distracted state, has visited her
while she was sewing in her closet. Both are convinced
that Hamlet is 'mad for [Ophelia's] love' and decide to
tell the king.
Claudius enlists the help of Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, Hamlet's friends from Wittenburg
('Denmark' is also acceptable: we are told they are
Hamlet's schoolfellows and that he's been brought up
with them since early youth), to discover the cause of
Hamlet's madness. Polonius introduces the ambassadors
returned from Norway who have succeeded in alerting the
King of Norway to his nephew's behaviour. Fortinbras is
now to prove himself against the Poles. Polonius then
explains his discovery of the relationship between
Ophelia and Hamlet, his honourable motives for stopping
it and Hamlet's subsequent decline into madness. He
reads a letter he has been given from Hamlet to Ophelia
to prove his case.
Hamlet enters reading a book about old men, and the
court disappears to allow Polonius to try to draw out
the prince. Hamlet acts as though he is insane and his
remarks encourage Polonius in his beliefs about Hamlet's
madness. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a go at
finding out the reasons for Hamlet's madness, suggesting
he is ambitious. Hamlet denies this, tells them he is
melancholy but does not know why, and quickly detects
his erstwhile friends' duplicity. The conversation is
diverted onto the topic of the Players who are about to
arrive in Elsinore. Polonius re-enters to introduce them
and Hamlet calls for a passionate speech. The sad tale
of Priam's death at the hands of Pyrrhus and Hecuba's
woe reduces the actor who recites the speech to tears.
In his third soliloquy Hamlet bemoans his lack of
passion in comparison to the player, tries to stimulate
his feelings through passionate speech and berates
himself for having done so. He then decides to put on a
play: all that has stopped him, he suggests has been the
possibility that the ghost may be a devil. A play
depicting his father's death may move Claudius to
confession, or at least look guilty. With this evidence,
Hamlet will 'know [his] course'.
[Back to the top.]
What? Why? How?
1. In what ways is the Pyrrhus character
similar to Hamlet? and to Claudius?
Pyrrhus resembles Hamlet in that his mission
is to kill a king in revenge for his father's
death. (Pyrrhus' father was Achilles who
famously died from an arrow wound in the
ankle). He also resembles Claudius in that he
is the murderer of the rightful king of Troy.
This double application of the Pyrrhus story
to that of 'Hamlet' is intriguing and
confusing.
On the one hand, if Pyrrhus' actions are
supposed to be a representation of Claudius'
crime, then Hamlet may want the speech in
order to stir up his feelings of pity for his
father and hatred for Claudius. This
interpretation is supported by the fact that
Hamlet bewails his lack of passion in the
soliloquy which immediately follows this
section.
On the other hand if we take Pyrrhus to
represent Hamlet, then the prince may want the
speech in order to be inspired by it. He may
want to become the cold-blooded,
conscienceless killer that Pyrrhus is
presented as. This would be for similar
reasons as the first interpretation: he feels
he is making no headway in his bid for revenge
and that his strong feelings have ebbed away.
Fans of the idea that Hamlet is a doubter who
is troubled by his conscience may read this
section in a third or fourth way. Pyrrhus is
presented as 'hellish', a terminator without
remorse or pity. Hamlet wants the speech
because he is dubious about the morality of
revenge and the speeches' portrayal of Pyrrhus
helps him to confirm these doubts in his mind.
Alternatively, he may remember the speech well
(as indeed he seems to) and have realised that
the Pyrrhus figure resembles both himself and
Claudius. He may feel that to take revenge
would reduce him to Claudius' level. His call
for this speech helps him confirm his doubts
about his task of revenge.
It is impossible to be sure of a true
interpretation here. I personally favour the
first because it is supported both in the way
Pyrrhus is portrayed and in the way it tallies
with the feelings in the soliloquy which
follows. The second two readings, which
suggest that he wants the speech in order to
explore or confirm his doubts about revenge,
depend upon an assumption that Hamlet doubts
the morality of revenge. People who favour
this reading of the Prince often want to see
the prince as thoroughly noble.
A slightly more sophisticated reading of this
section is also possible, which takes account
of the idea that the difficulty in deciding
whether Pyrrhus more resembles Hamlet or
Claudius. The play may well br inviting us to
see Pyrrhus as similar to both Hamlet and
Claudius. This line of reasoning would suggest
that Hamlet and Claudius are both like
Pyrrhus. Both would take the law into their
own hands to achieve their aims. The revenger
becomes the mirror of his enemy. It is not
unreasonable to combine this sort of reading
with any of the above explanations. The play
invites different understandings which can be
held simultaneously. The search for a meaning
is usually pretty futile in Shakespeare.
[Back to the top.]
2. How might the answer to (1) above help to
explain Hamlet's desire to be reminded of this
speech 'in particular'?
I hope that the previous answer does enough to
cover this point. Briefly, either: (a) he
wants to be worked up to act like Pyrrhus; or
(b) he wants to be worked up to kill the
Pyrrhus in his own plot (i.e. Claudius); or
(c) he wants to explore his doubts about
revenge. I personally prefer the second
explanation
[Back to the top.]
3. How might we connect the content of
Hamlet's supposedly crazy remarks to Polonius
to what the prince is actually feeling?
These lines are obviously pretty bizarre and
can, again, be interpreted in more than one
way. I think that the thing to watch out for
is Hamlet's fear of and fascination with death
and his repulsion from sex. This attitude
towards death has been present since the start
of the play, but his mission to kill Claudius,
a mission which will quite possibly result in
his own death is likely to have made death far
more of a real concern to the prince, less of
an academic interest.
The 'Fishmonger' line at II.ii.172 has got
nothing to do with death or sex, though. With
this greeting, Hamlet is telling Polonius he
is mad. He no longer speaks the 'proper'
decorous language of the court ('y'are'
instead of 'you are') and does not recognise
people. The idea of Polonius as a fishmonger
is simply 'wacky'. You may come across the
ingenious interpretation that 'fishmonger' is
Elizabethan slang for a pimp. Unfortunately,
'juicy' though this theory is, it hasn't
really been adequately proven.
Then Hamlet talks about the lack of honesty
(honour) in the world, simultaneously
insulting Polonius with the suggestion that he
is not as honourable as a fishmonger. This
quite clearly follows Hamlet's own opinion,
recalling his observation that the world is
like an "unweeded garden" in I.ii.
The question 'For if the sun ... a daughter?'
(179) seems calculated to feed Polonius'
fears. Hamlet knows how wary Polonius is about
his daughter's chastity from hard experience.
Here he seems to imply that the 'son'
(himself) may breed with Polonius' daughter.
The line is also an image of death, decay and
unlicensed breeding which might again recall
Hamlet's impression that the world is an
'unweeded garden' from the first soliloquy
(I.ii.135).
Hamlet then tells Polonius not to let his
daughter out, since she may become pregnant
(conceive a child) with the 'sun' (son) if she
does so. This is another line which seems to
be intended to increase Polonius' fears about
his daughter's chastity. It is also another
image of unlicensed "breeding".
Determined to draw Hamlet out, Polonius asks
about the book he is reading. This allows
Hamlet to insult Polonius again and to annoy
him with his contrary misinterpretations of
the latter's questions.
Finally, Hamlet suggests that Polonius would
lead him into his grave and refuses him his
life, two lines which suggest Hamlet's
awareness that his mission may be the death of
him.
[Back to the top.]
4. Name FIVE different characteristics of
Polonius that can be proven on the basis of
this act.
There are plenty of possibilities here, most
of them negative, including:
* Suspicious: Polonius believes that it is
likely that his son is up to no good in
Paris, hence his plan to find out the
truth through his agent, Reynaldo.
* Forgetful: Polonius forgets his plan to
trap his son halfway thorough explaining
it to Reynaldo.
* Servile: Polonius is terrified by the
King, leading to his longwindedness at
the start of II.ii. when he tries to
explain away the fact that he has (he
believes) driven the King's nephew mad.
* Gullible: Polonius is completely taken in
by Hamlet's act of madness when he
attempts to 'board' him in the second
part of II.ii.
* Arrogant: Polonius believes himself to be
a genius. He is extremely proud of his
plan to entrap his son in II.i. and his
plan to ensnare Hamlet in II.ii. by
spying on a meeting between the prince
and his daughter.
* Callous: Polonius is perfectly happy to
expose his daughter to the 'mad' prince
in order to curry favour with the King.
He even uses the word 'loose', saying
'I'll loose my daughter to him'. This
expression would only usually be used in
an agricultural context, as in loosing a
cow to a bull. Its use here may suggest
that he expects Ophelia to be sexually
assaulted by Hamlet.
[Back to the top.]
5. Why might one suspect that Hamlet's theory
that the ghost may be devil is not what has
actually stopped him from taking action?
When Hamlet says that he thinks the ghost that
he has seen 'may be a devil' in the last lines
of this act, the audience may be justifiably
surprised. Nowhere previously in the act has
Hamlet doubted the ghost's words or identity.
In a way, it is convenient for Hamlet to
believe that the ghost is a devil. In the
soliloquy at the end of II.ii., Hamlet has
been criticising himself for failing to take
action against the King. He is disgusted that
the player manages to summon up more feeling
for the fictional sorrow of Hecuba than he
himself is able to summon for the real death
of his father. All of a sudden, he suggests
that the ghost may be a devil. This gets him
out of his problem. Now, it is sensible not to
have killed Claudius, rather than cowardly.
The devil might be trying to get Hamlet to
commit a mortal sin in order to win his soul.
Isn't it essential, he suggests, to obtain
certain proof of the King's guilt before he
proceeds?
This explanation helps to explain the
suddenness of Hamlet's doubt. But it is by no
means flawless. First, these words are spoken
in soliloquy. In soliloquies, according to
Elizabethan custom, characters do not lie.
They offer immediate access to the character's
world view. This does not mean that characters
cannot be attempting to justify themselves to
the audience, but they do not lie about their
feelings. Second, this explanation seems to
depend on the common assumption that Hamlet
does not want to kill Claudius, which would be
very difficult to prove. I can believe that he
doesn't want to die and that he doesn't want
to go to hell, and both of these can be easily
proven. But there is no proof that Hamlet
doesn't want to kill the king or that he
doesn't accept this as his duty.
[Back to the top.]
6. What reasons for not acting are suggested
by Hamlet himself?
Hamlet says to Polonius: 'Use every man after
his desert and who shall 'scape whipping'
(II.ii.485). This is a casual remark and is in
part an insult to Polonius, suggesting that if
he were treated according to what he deserves
then he would be whipped. However, it may
contain more possibilities. It is a remark
which brings to mind Hamlet's religious views
and the doctrine of Original Sin. For Hamlet,
we've all got it coming. How can you be a
revenger with beliefs like this? To be a
successful revenger, you have to believe that
you have got the moral higher ground; you have
to believe you are better than your enemy.
Hamlet thinks we're all sinful. How, then, can
he be the judge of another? However, this is
something of a "throwaway" comment and though
it certainly reflects Hamlet's background and
education, it may not provide an accurate
measure of his attitude towards his task.
In his soliloquy at the end of the act, Hamlet
accuses himself of lacking the strong feelings
required of a revenger. He also accuses
himself of cowardice. The first of these
explanations seems plausible. Hamlet's hatred
of Claudius seems to have more to do with the
fact that he married his mother than that he
murdered his father. Hamlet feels contempt
towards Claudius, certainly, but does he hate
him enough to kill him. Additionally, Hamlet's
feelings for his father are far from simple.
Whenever he speaks about him, it is in
abstract terms of respect and awe. When he
meets his father's ghost, there is little
tenderness in Hamlet's responses to it. If we
compare Hamlet's description of his father in
the first soliloquy in which he compares his
attributes to those of Greek gods with his
tender-hearted description of Yorick in V.i.,
it seems likely that he preferred Yorick to
his father.
The idea that Hamlet is a coward is initially
appealing because it explains the prince's
failure and fits in with the idea of him being
meditative and melancholy, more used to silent
contemplation than action. However, I'm not
entirely convinced. In Act One, scene four,
Hamlet says he'll follow the ghost even though
it may be a devil and threatens to kill his
friends if they try to stop him. Later in the
play, in Act Four, scene six, we learn that
Hamlet boarded a pirate ship single-handed in
an attempt to subdue the attackers of his ship
to England. These are not the actions of a
coward.
[Back to the top.]
7. What different types of madness do we see
in Hamlet during this act?
When he visits Ophelia shortly before II.i.,
Hamlet's madness is supposedly that of
melancholy unrequited lover. He is pale,
mournful and silent, seemingly driven to
distraction by the loss of Ophelia, according
to Polonius.
Then, when meets Polonius in the lobby in
II.ii., Hamlet plays the lunatic clown.
Satirical and irreverent, incapable of ordered
speech or understanding the most
straightforward questions, Hamlet's madness
has completely changed.
On meeting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
Hamlet drops the clown act and switches to the
melancholic. He tells them of his misery and
jadedness, but says that he is unable to
understand its cause.
Three different acts of madness within the
course of a few hours would suggest that
Hamlet is either very bad at acting or doesn't
really care whether anyone believes it. I
think that Hamlet's inability to sustain a
performance of madness is very curious.
Perhaps he is unable to control himself, being
madder than he imagines. Perhaps he is simply
using the appearance of madness in order to be
able to express his contempt for everyone he
sees.
[Back to the top.]
8. What do each of the main characters feel to
be the cause of Hamlet's madness?
When the King greets Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern at the start of the act, he says
he isn't sure of the reason for the prince's
madness. What he is sure of, however, is that
there is something more than his father's
death. Typically, he suspects a secret cause
and wants to know what it is as soon as
possible.
Gertrude suspects that the cause is 'his
father's death and [her] o'erhasty marriage'
to Claudius. This is interesting on two
counts. First, she is very close to the truth.
Of course, she does not know that Hamlet is
acting, but she does recognise the causes of
his melancholy with complete accuracy. Second,
it signals some guilt on Gertrude's part at
her quick remarriage. Gertrude is not
completely immoral or insensitive, I would
suggest, though she still might be viewed as
weak-willed for having married when she knew
it was wrong. The critic A.C. Bradley said
Gertrude was "sheep-like".
Polonius, like the King and Queen, has also
come up with a theory about Hamlet's madness.
Unlike theirs, however, his theory is miles
away from the truth. He has decided that
Hamlet is 'mad for [Ophelia's] love' (II.i.).
This reflects his jealousy of his daughter's
chastity and intellectual arrogance. Hamlet,
divining Polonius' ideas, is happy to play
along.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are determined
that Hamlet is mad because his ambitions have
been foiled. In their discussion of dreams
with the prince, they continually try to force
Hamlet to admit to ambition, a point he flatly
denies. Their theory reflects their own
cutthroat ambition, which has allowed them to
sell their schoolfriend for the price of royal
favour.
In each case, the theory of madness suggested
by a character tells us more about that
character than it tells us about Hamlet. As
the gentleman in Act Four, scene five says,
mad speech is 'nothing'. But in its
nothingness, it acts as a kind of mirror,
reflecting on the observers' temperaments and
concerns.
[Back to the top.]
9. Why might we agree that Claudius is a good
king?
As noted above, Claudius has intuitively
divined that there is more to Hamlet's madness
than meets the eye. There is a hidden secret
which needs to be 'opened' if Claudius is to
rule safely. He knows that the Prince will not
talk to him and so he dispatches Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern to spy on the prince. He has
overestimated their guile and underestimated
Hamlet's perceptiveness, however. Nonetheless,
at this juncture, he comes up with the best
plan possible. Once he is sure that Hamlet is
a danger, he will make plans to eliminate him
swiftly and secretly.
It is also worth noting that his deflection of
the threat from Young Fortinbras has been
entirely successful and has led to the
strengthening of the peace between Denmark and
Norway.
[Back to the top.]
10. How does the Polonius and Reynaldo scene
in II.i. contribute to the effect of the play
as a whole?
This is an odd section of the play and one
which is very frequently cut from
performances. There is no consequence of this
scene: Reynaldo never comes back from France
and so directors need fear no loose ends if
they do cut it.
In terms of character, the scene enhances our
understanding of Polonius. He is shown to be
suspicious and cynical, even regarding his own
son. This reinforces the suspicion and
cynicism suggested by his attitude towards the
relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia in
I.iii. Thematically, this is a scene about the
relationship between sons and fathers, and is
like every scene in the play so far, a scene
of instruction, each of them paralleling the
central instructions of the ghost to Hamlet
and showing us different ways in which
instructions may be given and received.
Finally, the atmosphere of the play is
enhanced by the addition of an extra spying
plot which increases our sense of the
claustrophobic nature of the Danish court.
[Back to the top.]
Imagery and Symbolism
1. Find TWO references to disease or decay.
maggots in a dead dog (II.ii.179)
the air ... appeareth ... to me ... a foul and
pestilent congregation of vapours (II.ii.285)
[Back to the top.]
Themes
1. Who is acting a part in this act? In what
ways?
Appearances being at odds with reality is a
major Shakespearean theme appearing in nearly
all of the plays. The answer to the question
is, of course, nearly everyone.
Claudius is obviously covering up the fact
that he's a murderer and is pretending to be
the concerned uncle. Polonius pretends that he
stopped the relationship between Hamlet and
Ophelia out of respect for the King and
because Hamlet was out of his daughter's
social class. Then he humours Hamlet,
pretending the prince makes sense to him.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pretend to be
Hamlet's loyal friends anxious for his health.
Finally, Hamlet is pretending (variously) to
be mad.
Interestingly, the only other major character
in Act Two, the player, is a professional
pretender. And he doesn't act at all. His
speech is a narrative rather than a dramatic
monologue and his feelings for Hecuba are, as
the prince realises, quite genuine. This play
has more to say on the subject of Acting and
Truth in Act Three. Suffice to say here, that
only the professional player's performance is
truthful. Acting might hide the truth in the
hands of amateurs. But in the hands of
professionals, it enlightens and creates
truth.
[Back to the top.]
2. 'The time is out of joint'. In what ways
does Hamlet discover this to be the case
during Act Two?
Hamlet's friends have turned out to be the
King's spies.
The tragedians of the city, actors of genuine
skill according to Hamlet, have been banned
from the city. They are, in any case, happy to
move on because their place has been taken by
child performers.
People who used to make faces at Claudius will
now pay a fortune for a miniature of the King.
[Back to the top.]
3. Find THREE references to remembering or
forgetting our feelings.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been brought
up with Hamlet since early youth, but
immediately forget their friendship when
offered a king's bounty.
Fortinbras happily gives up his plan to regain
his father's lands when he is given a
commission by the king of Norway.
In his letter, Hamlet swears that his love for
Ophelia will never waver.
Hamlet reminds Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
rather bitterly, of the 'obligation of our
ever preserved love'.
The players have lost their popularity in the
city.
Claudius has become popular with people who
used to scorn him.
Hamlet suggests he has lost his passion to
avenge his father's death.
Ian Delaney.
Copyright © 1997
Shakespearean Education
Last Updated: Monday, 23-Feb-98 11:33:11 EST
email: ian@hamlet.hypermart.net
