Hamlet

1. Hamlet Act II

2. Themes • Appearance vs. Reality 1. Polonius orders Reynaldo to spy on Laertes a. Shows P’s distrust of his own son b. Shows P’s techniques for success at court

3. Themes, continued • Appearances vs. Reality • 2. Claudius charges Rosencrantz & Guildenstern to report on Hamlet • He mistrusts Hamlet’s madness 3. Both Gertrude and Ophelia agree to help entrap Hamlet, but neither does so willingly – this is a key, however, to Hamlet’s inability to let himself love either of them

4. Themes, cont. • Madness • Both Polonius and Ophelia misinterpret Hamlet’s behavior O thinks he’s really mad, P thinks love sick Note: The Elizabethan figure of the melancholy lover, part comical, part pathetic, was a stock character in the popular imagination

5. Themes, cont. • Acting, pretense, hypocrisy, eavesdropping, punning – run throughout this act. Everyone seems to be playing a part and pretending to be someone else or getting people to spy secretly. • Introduction of players and a play

6. Hamlet’s second soliloquy • Direct link with the theme of appearance and reality as H contrasts himself with one of the actors • Displays H’s melancholy and feeling of being trapped in a play that he must act to the end – getting revenge for his father’s death • Displays H’s use of words and his realization that he is trapped by his own words and inability to act • Reveals his own plan to entrap the king