FREE ESSAY ON HAMLET

HAMLET

The first part of this scene, between Polonius and Reynaldo, is not necessary to the plot
of the play, and is often cut from performances. That's a shame, because it's lots of
fun. Polonius thinks he is very wise, and Reynaldo, a sort of superior butler, knows
otherwise. 
Polonius is sending money and notes (maybe more advice) to his son, Laertes, but he's
suspicious about what Laertes might be up to. He seems to assume that if Laertes is
fooling around, he will lie about it, so Polonius has a plan. His fetch of wit (2.1.38)
is for Reynaldo to find some friends of Laertes, and say certain things about him, such
as he's very wild, and see what the friends say. (Later, Hamlet, in trying to discover if
the King is really guilty of murder, will use a similar device to discover the truth:
He'll watch the King's reactions while something like the murder of King Hamlet is shown
in a play.) 
Polonius is quite proud of his plan, because, as he says, Thus do we of wisdom and of
reach, / With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out
(2.1.61-63). Of course, when Polonius mentions we of wisdom and of reach, he's thinking
of himself, despite the fact that he takes too long to say all of this, forgets what he's
saying, and contradicts himself. Reynaldo politely tolerates all of this, and goes about
his business. 
Exit Reynaldo. Enter Ophelia:
Just as Reynaldo leaves, Ophelia comes rushing in, badly frightened. Without warning,
Hamlet has come into her closet (i.e., her study or sewing-room), seized her wrist,
stared at her, sighed, and gone back out, all without saying a word. His clothes were
unlaced and unbuttoned, and he had a look so piteous in purport / As if he had been
loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors (2.1.79-81). It's interesting and puzzling that
she should describe him very much as the Ghost might be described. However, Polonius
isn't puzzled. He immediately jumps to the conclusion that This is the very ecstasy of
love (2.1.99). He says that he is sorry he misjudged Hamlet, but he is most interested in
rushing off to tell the King. 
Polonius' exit lines, This must be known; which, being kept close, might move / More
grief to hide than hate to utter love (2.1.115-116), are not the clearest that
Shakespeare ever wrote, but they need to be considered carefully. He apparently means
that if he doesn't tell the King that Hamlet is crazy because Ophelia dumped him, there
will be more trouble than if he does tell. This implies or assumes a couple of things.
First, the King is very interested in finding out what is wrong with Hamlet. And, since
this is the first time we've seen any sign of the antic disposition that Hamlet said he
might put on, we may assume that the King hasn't seen any sign of it, either. Therefore,
the antic disposition is probably not the reason for the King's interest in Hamlet's
state of mind. We can guess that Claudius sees Hamlet as a potential political rival, and
that Claudius senses danger in Hamlet's continued mourning for his father. Second, the
phrase hate to utter love means that Claudius will hate to hear that the daughter of his
close advisor has a relationship with Hamlet. This might lead us to guess that Polonius'
real--though unstated--reason for putting a stop to the relationship was to make sure
that he was on the right side: the King's. 
Summary of Act 2, Scene 2: The King tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to investigate
Hamlet's madness . . . Polonius's theory of Hamlet's madness . . . Polonius examines
Hamlet . . . Rosencrantz and Guildenstern examine Hamlet . . . The players arrive . . .
Hamlet's second soliloquy. 
? Enter King and Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
--King: Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (2.2.1). 
? Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Enter Polonius.
--Polonius: I have found / The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy (2.2.48-49). 
? Enter Ambassadors [Voltemand and Cornelius].
--King: Well, we shall sift him (2.2.58). 
? Exeunt Ambassadors [Voltemand and Cornelius].
--Polonius: My liege, and madam, to expostulate (2.2.86). 
? Enter Hamlet. Exeunt King and Queen.
--Queen Gertrude: But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading (2.2.168). 
? Exit Polonius. Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
--Guildenstern: My honor'd lord! (2.2.222). 
? A flourish trumpets for the players. Enter Polonius.
--Hamlet: I am but mad north-north-west (2.2.378). 
? Enter Players.
--Hamlet: Come give us a taste of your quality, come, a passionate speech (2.2.431-432).

? Exit all but Hamlet.
--Hamlet: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (2.2.550).
Enter King and Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:
The King welcomes dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (2.2.1), and immediately gets down to
business. They, friends of Hamlet, are supposed to hang out with him, so that they can
find out what's wrong with him. The King says that he cannot dream of what might be wrong
with Hamlet, other than his father's death. Of course, we've already learned that the
King killed Hamlet's father, so we may suspect that what the King really wants to know is
what Hamlet knows or suspects, and what Hamlet might do. 
The Queen seconds the King's request by telling them how much Hamlet likes them, and by
suggesting that there might be some money in it for them, or--as she puts it--such thanks
/ As fits a king's remembrance (2.2.25-26). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern not only agree
to do what they're asked, they suck up. They know, and say, that the King could simply
command, rather than ask, and so they're glad he asked. 
Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Enter Polonius:
As soon as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave to seek out Hamlet, Polonius comes bustling
in with two pieces of news: The ambassadors to Norway have had success, and he has
discovered the very cause of Hamlet's lunacy (2.2.49). The King wants to hear what
Polonius has to say about Hamlet, but Polonius insists on bringing in the ambassadors,
and saving the news about Hamlet as the fruit [i.e., the dessert] to that great feast.
Polonius steps out to fetch the ambassadors, and the King and Queen are alone for a
moment. The King wonders aloud if Polonius really has found the source and head of
Hamlet's distemper. The Queen replies with a bit of common sense: I doubt [suspect] it is
no other but the main; / His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage (2.2.56-57). 
Enter Ambassadors [Voltemand and Cornelius]:
The King and Queen's moment alone is soon over. In comes Polonius, with Voltemand and
Cornelius in tow. Voltemand tells the King that the King of Norway, who was sick, thought
that Fortinbras was raising his army to fight the Poles, but when he received the letter
from the King, he called Fortinbras in, learned the truth, and gave him a rebuke. Now
Fortinbras has promised never to direct any hostilities toward Denmark, and to use the
army only to attack Poland. The King of Norway is happy with this, and wants the King's
permission for Fortinbras to pass through Denmark on his way to Poland. All this may
sound fishy, but the King seems satisfied and says he'll think about it. Later in the
play, he has given the requested permission, because Fortinbras briefly appears, leading
his army across the stage toward Poland. The King thanks Voltemand and Cornelius, and
they exit, never to be seen again. 
Exeunt Ambassadors [Voltemand and Cornelius]:
As soon as the ambassadors are gone, Polonius, saying he will not expostulate on the
obvious, expostulates. And after he says that brevity is the soul of wit / And
tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes (2.2.90-91), he proceeds to be very tedious
as he explains his theory of Hamlet's madness. He makes his case by reading a love-letter
written by Hamlet to Ophelia, and then explaining how he, faithful and honorable, got
Ophelia to lock herself away from Hamlet. He concludes in his windy way: 
And he, repulsed--a short tale to make--
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. (2.2.146-151)
The King and Queen are almost persuaded, but still doubtful, and so Polonius boasts that
I will find / Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed / Within the centre. The King
asks how his theory may be tested, and Polonius offers to loose Ophelia to Hamlet while
he and the King hide behind a curtain to overhear their conversation. 
Enter Hamlet. Exeunt King and Queen:
The King agrees to Polonius' plan for spying on Hamlet, but just then Hamlet himself
comes wandering into the room, reading a book.Polonius is eager to examine Hamlet for
himself, and he shoos away the King and Queen, so that he can board Hamlet. He starts
right in, saying Do you know me, my lord? as though Hamlet is so far gone that he can't
recognize Polonius. Hamlet replies, Excellent well; you are a fishmonger (2.2.174). And
so goes the rest of the encounter, with Polonius asking more dumb questions and Hamlet
replying with insults which Polonius doesn't understand because he thinks they only show
just how crazy the prince is. In the course of the conversation Hamlet mocks Polonius'
attitude towards Ophelia, telling him that conception is a blessing: but not as your
daughter may conceive (2.2.184-185). And Hamlet also mocks Polonius' appearance and lack
of self-knowledge by pretending to read a passage from his book that describes old men as
having wrinkled faces and a plentiful lack of wit; of course, he is really describing
Polonius. Polonius sort of gets the idea that something is going on, but all he can
figure out is that Though this be madness, yet there is method in't (2.2.205-206). 
Exit Polonius. Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:
Baffled, Polonius takes his leave of Hamlet, and just as he does, Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern show up, so that they, too, can take a shot at finding out what's wrong with
Hamlet. 
Hamlet greets his old friends heartily, and asks how they're doing, which leads to a
good-old-boy off-color joke about the secret parts of Fortune. Then Hamlet asks, What
news? He means what we mean when we say What's up? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don't
have a good answer to that question. They didn't come just to hang out with Hamlet, and
they didn't just happen to run into him while they were doing something else. They came
to find out what his problem is, but they're not supposed to tell him that. So
Rosencrantz answers Hamlet's What news? with None, my lord, which is a little white lie.

Hamlet then invites Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to be on his side. He asks, What have
you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune, that she sends you to prison
hither? (2.2.239-241). But Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are employed by the King of
Denmark, so they can't jump in and agree that Denmark is a prison. When Hamlet insists
that To me it is a prison, Rosencrantz takes that as an opportunity to divert the
conversation to an interesting topic: Hamlet's ambition. If Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
could report back to the King that Hamlet's problem is that he wants to be king, that
would be news indeed. Hamlet denies that he is ambitious, saying, O God, I could be
bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space--were it not that I have
bad dreams (2.2.254-256). 
However, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don't give up easily, and spar a little over the
meaning of ambition, until Hamlet gets tired of the whole thing and suggests that they go
to th' court. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern say We'll wait upon you, as though they have
nothing better to do than just tag around with him. This apparently reminds Hamlet that
they never really answered his question, so he asks it again: But, in the beaten way of
friendship, what make you at Elsinore? Rosencrantz replies with a half-truth: To visit
you, my lord, no other occasion. Hamlet suddenly inuits the truth and asks Were you not
sent for? (2.2.274). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are surprised, and a little sarcastic
brow-beating from Hamlet gets them to confess that they were indeed sent for. 
The discovery that his supposed friends are really the king's spies sends Hamlet into a
kind of philosophical orbit. He tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he knows that
they were sent for because he has lost all of his mirth. Not only that, but to him the
earth is nothing but a sterile promontory within a foul and pestilent congregation of
vapors. He goes on, in a passage that is often quoted as an example of the Renaissance
belief in the dignity of man: 
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and
moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a
god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! (2.2.303-307)
This kind of idea about man was one of the inspirations of famous Renaissance artists
(think of Michelangelo's statue of David), but Hamlet's conclusion is a question, and yet
to me what is this quintessence of dust? 
At this point Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are lost, or distracted, or feeling smug that
Hamlet is talking crazy. Whatever, they are smiling, and Hamlet accuses them of having
their minds in the gutter. He says, man delights not me: no, nor woman neither, though by
your smiling you seem to say so (2.2.309-310). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern cover
themselves by saying they were only thinking about how disappointed the players (a
company of actors) are going to be when they show up. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern met
them on the road and were told that they were coming to entertain Hamlet, but Hamlet
doesn't seem to be in the mood. 
The explanation Rosencrantz and Guildenstern give for their smiling seems rather lame,
but Hamlet is more interested in the players than in his two friends. He asks all about
them, and finds--in a passage that is often cut from performances--that these tragedians
of the city are on the road because boy actors have become more popular. This information
prompts Hamlet to think about the current situation in Denmark. He reflects that it's not
so strange that the public has suddenly taken a liking to the boy actors, because now
people buy pictures of Claudius, despite the fact that before he was king, they made
faces at him behind his back. But then again, it is too strange, because there is
something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out (2.2.367-368). 
A flourish trumpets for the players. Enter Polonius:
As Hamlet is meditating on the strange shifts of popular opinion, we hear the sound of
the players' trumpets. Now Hamlet decides that it's time to let Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern know that he understands them better than they understand him. He tells them
they are welcome to Elsinore, and shakes hands with them, then adds a kind of back-handed
insult by saying that he is welcoming them because he's going to welcome the players more
warmly than he has them, and he doesn't want them to feel too bad. Then he throws in the
information that his uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived if they think he mad,
because he is but mad north-north-west(2.2.378). Hamlet thus presents Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern with a kind of reverse catch-22, because if he is only pretending to be mad,
why would he say that he is only pretending? 
Now Polonius comes bustling in. Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Polonius
is a great baby, and tells them that he can tell, just from looking at Polonius, that
he's come to announce the arrival of the players. Sure enough that's what Polonius has on
his mind, and Hamlet mocks him, although Polonius doesn't seem to notice until Hamlet
suddenly calls him Jephthah, judge of Israel (2.2.404). The story of Jephthah is a cruel
tale that can be found in Judges 11. In short, Jephthah, who has only one daughter,
promises God that if he is given victory in battle he will sacrifice whatsoever cometh
forth of the doors of my house when he returns. He does win the battle. His daughter
hears of his victory and comes out to meet him with timbrels and with dances. He keeps
his promise to God. Hamlet's implication seems to be that Polonius, like Jephthah, has
one daughter whom he claims to love passing well, and that Polonius, again like Jephthah,
sacrificies her for his own advantage. 
Enter Players:
All of these implications probably pass right over Polonius' head, and besides, Hamlet is
interrupted by the entrance of the players, whom he greets gladly. He knows these players
well, and jokes about how one has a new beard, and how another has grown. 
Then Hamlet asks for a passionate speech. In fact, he has one in mind, Aeneas' tale to
Dido, . . . especially when he speaks of Priam's slaughter, and recites the first
thirteen lines. Then the First Player takes over, telling a story that we could expect
Hamlet to be interested in, since it climaxes in a description of a woman grieving for
her husband. Hecuba, the dead man's wife, made a clamor that would have made the very
stars weep, would have made milch [milk] the burning eyes of heaven (2.2.517). By this
time the player is himself weeping, and Polonius says Prithee, no more. 
Hamlet agrees to let the rest of the speech wait until later, and he asks Polonius to see
to it that the players are well bestow'd. Polonius apparently thinks it's beneath him to
be real nice to a bunch of traveling players, and answers that he will use them according
to their desert. Hamlet gives him a tongue lashing, saying God's bodykins, man, much
better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? (2.2.529-530).
Polonius has nothing to say to that, and tells the players to follow him. As everyone is
leaving Hamlet announces that we'll hear a play tomorrow, and then detains First Player
to make the arrangements. Hamlet wants a particular play, The Murder of Gonzago, and he
asks the player to memorize an extra speech which Hamlet would write and put into the
play. Later, we find that this particular play interests Hamlet because it tells of a
king who was, like King Hamlet, poisoned in his garden by his wife's lover. First Player
says that it will be no problem to put Hamlet's speech into the play, but we never hear
of it again. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are still hanging around, but Hamlet coldly
dismisses them, and he is alone with his thoughts. 
Exit all but Hamlet:
Hamlet's second soliloquy begins, O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (2.2.550).
Hamlet is disgusted with himself because First Player could weep for Hecuba, but Hamlet
can say nothing; no, not for a king, / Upon whose property and most dear life / A damn'd
defeat was made (2.2.569-571). 
Remember that Laertes has gone to France and Polonius has sent Reynaldo after to spy on
him, so some time has passed since Hamlet has promised the Ghost that he would sweep to
revenge. Yet Hamlet is not blaming himself because he hasn't killed Claudius, but because
he hasn't said anything. Half-mockingly, he says that if the player had the same motive
and cue for passion he would drown the stage with tears. And then he turns the mockery
back upon himself, saying that he is a dull . . . rascal. The Ghost told him that if he
didn't take revenge he would be duller than the fat weed / That roots itself on Lethe
wharf. So Hamlet seems to be accusing himself of not having the player's passion, of not
hating Claudius strongly enough, of not loving his father strongly enough. 
Next, Hamlet asks, Am I a coward? But it's not a really a question. He's trying to work
himself into a state of passion. He imagines someone insulting him in the most outrageous
way, pulling his nose, calling him a liar, and says that he should take it because if he
weren't pigeon-liver'd he would have killed Claudius, gutted him, and fed the guts to the
hawks. He flies into a rage at the very thought of Claudius, calling him bloody, bawdy
villain! / Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! (2.2.580-581). 
As the words come rushing out, Hamlet hears himself, and is even more disgusted. Instead
of doing anything, he Must unpack my heart with words, / And fall a-cursing like a very
drab [a whore], / A stallion [a male whore]. Now he is cursing because he doing nothing
but cursing, and he realizes it, saying About, my brains! About is an order, as you might
give to a horse, when you want him to turn around. Hamlet is telling himself to stop,
take a breath, and try to take a new look at the situation. 
He has heard that guilty people at a play have been struck so to the soul that they have
betrayed their guilt. That's what he will try on Claudius. He'll keep a careful watch on
Claudius during The Murder of Gonzago. Perhaps he suspects himself of just finding
another reason to not do anything, because he justifies himself by reasoning that The
spirit that I have seen / May be the devil (2.2.598-599), and may be misleading him to
damn him. He would be damned if he killed an innocent man, but this is the first time
that he has shown any doubt that the Ghost is anything but his father's spirit, or any
doubt that Claudius is guilty of murder. Nevertheless, he declares that the play's the
thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.