Hamlet - Act II, Scene II

Act II, scene II largely involves the king dealing with the numerous matters at hand, and the traitorous actions of Hamlet's two good friends, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern. The king has sent for Hamlet's friends, and says to them:

"Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was. What it should be,
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him
So much from the understanding of himself,
I cannot dream of"

Claudius says that Hamlet has taken a turn for the worse. He instructs them to find out what the stem of the issue is because he "cannot dream of" his father's death doing so much damage to his mind. Hamlet's mother Gertrude goes on to tell the pair of how fond Hamlet is of them, and makes suggestions to some sort of reward to make it very worth-while. I believe Claudius suspects Hamlet may know something about his father's murder, and wants to know what Hamlet knows. Rozencrantz and Guildenstern seem all too happy to accept this task for being close friends of Hamlet. Again, the question of "Who's there?" is voiced behind the scenes of Hamlet. Hamlet is continually being betrayed by his love, family and friends. I find Rozencrantz and Guildenstern's betrayal disturbing because they agreed to it without any hesitation or uneasiness.

After the two friends are dismissed, Polonious runs in claiming to know the cause of Hamlet's madness. When the King and Queen ask to hear it, he insists he must go get the ambassadors as they also have news to share about their excursion to Norway. Polonious likes to hear himself talk, and in his nature he insists to withhold his news as the 'dessert' to what the ambassadors have to say. Norway accepts the treaty with Denmark in exchange for their armies to have rite of passage across the state to attack Poland - in the end this gives Fortinbras the perfect oppurtunity to organize attack on castle Elsinore. I beleive that Norway's deception was to be expected, and Claudius makes a fault at this point for being too naive to recognize that.

Polonious uses a lot of words to tell the King and Queen that Hamlet has gone mad out of losing his love, Ophelia - and in the tradition of the story, the king decides to eavesdrough on a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia to deem the truth behind Polonious' theory. With the conclusion of the King's business, the King and Queen exit the scene, while Hamlet enters. Polonious asks Hamlet dumb questions, and Hamlet responds with a number of clever insults - all which seem to go over Polonious' head. This is one of my favourite parts in Hamlet simply because it is so entertaining - especially in the movie. Polonious attributes all of his outbursts to his madness, but begins to catch on:"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't".

The scene switches to Hamlet meeting Rozencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet is initially overjoyed to see his old friends, but their awkward answers raise red flags. Without much trouble, Hamlet discovers that his friend's are merely spies for the King - which disturbs him moreso. Hamlet makes sure to not tell them anything the King does not know, and instead draws most of his attention to the actors arriving at the castle. Hamlet requests a speech from the narrator that deals with a woman grieving for her dead husband. After a lot of banter between Hamlet and Polonious over Polonious' excessive critisizm, the speech ends and Hamlet makes a second request: he asks that they put on a play called "The Murder of Gonzago", and that they read an additional speech which Hamlet has prepared. Hamlet's addition runs parallel to the account of the ghost on the murder of Old Hamlet.

As all players exit, Hamlet is alone and the second soliloquy begins. Hamlet is disgusted in himself "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!". Hamlet's self disgust was set-off by the fact that the narrator genuinely wept for the widow and death of the husband in his own speech recounting a fictitious story. Hamlet is mad at himself for his inability to take action for his father's murder.

"..can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made.."

Through his self disgust, and anger he creates a drive to take some sort of action - but he seems to shy away from it at the end of his soliloquy. He convinces himself he must determine the validity of the ghost as it "may be the devil.".

I find it interesting how Hamlet's character has a major fault in his personality - the lack of a spine. He seems to make excuses every time he has drive and reason for action. Hamlet is very rational, but he is also afraid. I believe he does not want to take on this responsibility of revenge for his father.

- Tyler Scott