Hamlet

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read Act 2.2 of Hamlet while following the study guide questions.

Activities:

• A. Use the following questions (and answers) to facilitate a discussion of Act II, Scene ii of Hamlet.

  Act II, Scene ii

  • 1. What is the tone of Claudius’s first speech?

    Claudius speaks as a father to his son’s boyhood friends. He takes an attitude of concern for Hamlet, seeking the aid of his former friends. However, his words also possess an air of conspiracy as he seeks the aid of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to discover the cause of Hamlet’s changed behavior [1-18].

  • 2. What do lines 59-60 reveal about Gertrude?

    Gertrude knows that Hamlet is bothered not only by his father’s death but by the marriage of his uncle to his mother very shortly thereafter.

  • 3. How does Shakespeare add to the Hamlet-Fortinbras dynamic of the plot?

    Ambassador Voltemand reports that the King of Norway (Fortinbras’s uncle) has squelched the plans of his nephew to invade Denmark in order to win back territory King Hamlet took from his father. Instead, the King of Norway now pays Fortinbras 60,000 gold crowns annually, in return for which Fortinbras sets his aggression on Poland [64-81].

    In addition Norway asks Claudius’s permission for Fortinbras and his troops to cross through Danish territory on their way to Poland [82-86].

  • 4. How are lines 97-99 ironic?

    The lines are ironic because in them Polonius claims he will be brief, but the man always takes several times the number of words needed to convey his message. In fact, just to say he will be brief requires almost three lines.

  • 5. Locate and explain the effect of the example of anadiplosis in one of Polonius’s speeches on p. 89.

    Lines 105-106 provide an example of anadiplosis. Shakespeare places it in Polonius’s mouth to further develop his garrulousness, his redundancy, and his affectation (through such rhetorical devices).

    Consider this example from Richard II:

    > The love of wicked men converts to fear; > That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both > To worthy danger and deserved death.

  • 6. What does his love letter reveal about Hamlet?

    Hamlet certainly sounds sincere in this letter. The sincerity is underscored by the modesty expressed in lines 128-129 in which Hamlet apologizes for his lack of skill in the art of writing love poetry.

  • 7. On what comparison does Polonius base his conclusion that Hamlet is mad with love?

    Polonius bases his conclusion on a comparison between Hamlet’s behavior and his own when he was a young man [206-208].

  • 8. What tone(s) dominate(s) and what is the significance of most of Hamlet’s speeches between 240 and 444?

    From the beginning of his exchange with Polonius, Hamlet takes on a mocking tone, poking verbal fun at a man he no doubt regards as a pretentious (and probably foolish) old windbag. His comments about old men when Polonius asks him about what he is reading support this idea [214-222].

    In lines 233-235 he takes a sudden turn into the deadly serious when he once more alludes to his contempt for his own life.

    His conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern returns to the mocking tone. In addition, we see how easily Hamlet changes his mask. Line 237 is direct and honest: he has little patience for the two men his uncle has set on him. Yet, by line 242, he speaks with what they must perceive as affection. He is overall more direct in his disagreement with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern than he is with Polonius, though neither seems to notice. By line 300 his tone and approach are both utterly frank and direct: he suspects that they are spies.

  • 9. Why is Hamlet’s allusion to Jephthah appropriate in reference to Polonius?

    Polonius is using his daughter Ophelia even as Jephthah (in the Book of Judges) uses his daughter - indirectly. Jephthah swore to sacrifice the first thing he saw when he returned home if the Lord would give him victory. He won the battle, but found his daughter first when he arrived home.

  • 10. What is the tone of Hamlet’s conversation with the players? What is the significance of that exchange?

    Following the mocking and condescending tone he has taken with Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern—all of whom belong to the nobility—Hamlet treats the players with respect and admiration for their craft - though all of them belong to the working class as Elizabethans saw them.

    The scene reveals that Hamlet is not mad, at least not in the sense that Polonius understands madness. Instead, we learn he holds a certain appreciation for the dramatic arts and can write a bit himself. We may also suspect that he has a motive for wanting to insert fourteen new lines or more into The Murder of Gonzago.

  • 11. What are the tone and meaning of Hamlet’s soliloquy at the conclusion of this act?

    Hamlet contrasts the player’s ability to evoke emotion and express passion for no real life reason with his own ability to act in response to what his father’s ghost has revealed to him concerning his uncle and mother. His tone begins, then, as one of frustration that shifts to self-doubt and self-condemnation of his peaceful nature [603-616]. In lines 625-634 Hamlet develops an idea that he believes can motivate his passion and reconcile his doubts concerning the origin of the ghost. His tone takes on a tinge of rationalization but also of caution and reveals that like a true philosopher he seeks evidence to support his conclusions.

Assignment for next class meeting: Read Act 3.1 of Hamlet. Do the corresponding study questions.