1) What does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?
He wants Reynaldo to go to France to spy on Laertes. While spying, Polonius wants him to find others Danes in France and spread rumors about him to see if they are true.
2) What does this say about Polonius?
Polonius only cares about Polonius. He wants to know what Laertes is doing because he wants his son to uphold the family reputation.
3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?
Hamlet is acting crazy. He enters Ophelia's room, grabs her wrist and holds her out at arms length away. He looks at her face for a long time as if he wanted to draw her. He sighs a heavy sigh and then turns and walks away.
4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?
To spy on Hamlet for the King. Rosencrantez and Guildenstern are Hamlet's childhood friends and the king hopes that Hamlet will open up to them.
5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?
He wants them to recite The Murder of Gonzago. A play that he has written. The plot of the play is much like what has just happened to Hamlet. Hamlet is going to add some lines into the play that will get the king to confess that he murdered his brother.
(He wants them to recite Christopher Marlowe's (Shakespeare's rival) play Dido, Queen of Carthage, which is based on the Aeneid, Book II.)
Identify the following speaker of the following lines and discuss to whom the lines are being delivered, and what do the lines mean?
6) “No, my lord, but as you did command/ I did repel his letter, and denied his access to me”
Ophelia to her father.
She is telling her father that she has cut off all contact to Hamlet (she sent back his letters) just like he told her too.
7) “More matter less art”
Queen to Polonius
She wants Polonius to quit babbling and get to the point
8) “That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell/ Must like a whore unpack my heart with words,
Hamlet to himself/audience
Hamlet wants to get revenge and he is getting signs from both Heaven and Hell that he should get revenge. But all he can do is prance about and whine about how much his life sucks.
9) “Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth/ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ with windlasses and with assays of bias,/ By directions find directions out.”
Polonius to Reynaldo
By telling lies about Laertes, Reynaldo will find out the truth about what Laertes is doing in France.
10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”
Hamlet to Polonius
Hamlet is the son of Denmark but he is also the light (sun) of Denmark...Help!
11) List three metaphors (1 direct, 1 implied, 1 extended) from the play.
Direct: Polonius is a fishmonger (Act 2: Scene 2, Line 174)
Implied: Lies are poison (they enter through your ear, like how Claudius poisoned King Hamlet)
Extended: Denmark is Hamlet's jail
12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia?
A letter that is supposedly from Hamlet to Ophelia that states his love for her
13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.
Who decides what is good and what is evil? There really is nothing good or bad in the world. It's how people interpret it which makes it good or evil. Everything that has happened to Hamlet, he has perceived as bad (his father died and his mom got remarried to his uncle, which i would say is pretty bad), so he thinks that Denmark is a prison.
14) What is a fishmonger?
A pimp! (actually a person who sells fish on the wharf)
15) Who was Jephthah?
Jephthah was a Biblical man (Judges 11:30-40) who sacrificed his daughter for political advancement, much like Polonius is doing to Ophelia (he figured out that if Hamlet actually does love Ophelia and they get married, then he will be the father of the future Queen).
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