Hamlet Act II
Episode 54
Professor Pipes returns on a mission. Not a spy mission like basically everyone in Act 2 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but a mission of understanding. Understanding all of the intrigue that happens in the two scenes of Act 2. In this episode, we'll cover all of the sneaky happenings of Act 2: Polonius and Reynaldo conspiring to spy on Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude scheming with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to meddle with Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius planning to eavesdrop on Hamlet and Ophelia, and Hamlet plotting to use actors to expose Claudius's guilt. So many plans in just two scenes!
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes, and today I’m here to talk about The Lion King! No wait - that’s the remake. Shakespeare’s Hamlet, specifically Act 2.
Previously:
Previously in Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and it’s not just the corpse of King Hamlet. His brother, Claudius, married his widow, Gertrude, became the new king, and told Prince Hamlet to just stop being sad, ok!?! Claudius’ main advisor, Polonius, sent his son off to Paris and warned his daughter, Ophelia, to stay away from Hamlet, even though he’s vowed he loves her. Over in Norway, Prince Fortinbras was hankering to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s death and reclaim his land. Meanwhile, Horatio saw the Ghost of Old King Hamlet, but when it didn’t want to talk to him, Horatio decided to tell Hamlet (the non-dead one). The ghost told Hamlet that Claudius murdered him, and Hamlet vowed to get revenge! Hamlet warned Horatio that he might have to act a bit crazy, and that’s where Act 1 ended.
Plot:
Scene 1 is short, but filled with intrigue! Polonius is talking with his servant, Reynaldo, and tells him to head to Paris in order to spy on Laertes - you know, the son who he told to be true to himself. He tells Reynaldo that he should talk to all of Laertes’ companions and even spread bad rumors about him, all in order to find out the truth about his behavior. Father of the year! As the servant leaves, Ophelia enters, clearly upset. She says that Hamlet came to see her, super sloppy and disheveled. He grabbed her arm, stared at her for a long while, sighed sadly, and then left the room - all the while still staring at her. Creepy! Polonius says he must be mad with love for Ophelia, and when she confirms that she has been avoiding him like she promised, Polonius says that her rejection must have made him crazy! Yeah, ‘cause his behavior is her fault. Polonius says that he must tell the king, so off they go.
You’re in for a long one with Scene 2. First, we deal with Claudius and Gertrude, who are talking with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, old friends of Hamlet’s, whom they have asked to spy on Hamlet, you know, just to find out why he’s been acting differently lately. And they agree. And the worst friend award goes to... It’s a tie! Rosencrantz and Guildenstern! Polonius arrives and says he knows why Hamlet is acting so strangely, and it’s because… *DRUMROLL* Never mind, he’ll wait until after they talk to the ambassadors from Norway. They’ve come with good news - the King of Norway has told his nephew not to attack Denmark, and Fortinbras agreed. He just wants to travel through Denmark to get to Poland. Suuuuuure. Claudius is pleased, and the ambassadors leave, so of course Polonius gets right to the point! Just kidding. He has to give some really long winded speeches first. Finally, he says that Hamlet is mad with love and reads a love letter from Hamlet. Wait - since when does Hamlet love Polonius? Oh! Ophelia gave her dad the letter from Hamlet. Gertrude and Claudius think this could be the reason, so naturally Polonius says that he’ll send Ophelia to talk to Hamlet so that Claudius and Polonius can spy on their conversation. Ok, we really need a spy tracker. This makes 3 spying missions so far. Hamlet enters, so Gertrude and Claudius leave. What follows is a classic Shakespearean double-entendre fest! To Polonius, Hamlet sounds like he’s talking crazy, but really Hamlet is using wordplay to make fun of Polonius, and also kind of Ophelia. Rude! Polonius leaves, but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter for their spy mission! And despite welcoming them warmly, Hamlet pretty much immediately understands why they’ve come and gets them to admit they were sent for by the king and queen. Another tie, this time for the worst spies ever! Soon a group of actors arrive, and Polonius enters again. Hamlet chats with the actors and has one of them recite lines from a play about the murder of Priam of Troy and the grief of his wife, Hecuba. Both Hamlet and the actor are truly moved. Hamlet asks an actor to perform The Murder of Gonzago tomorrow and to add in a few lines that Hamlet will give him. After everyone else leaves, Hamlet contemplates the actor’s performance, ashamed that it was so emotional, while Hamlet has a real reason to be upset and take action, but he hasn’t because he’s a big, fat coward. Dude, you’ve got to work on that negative self-talk! Hamlet plans to have the actors perform a scene very similar to his father’s murder so that he can watch Claudius (spy mission 4). Hamlet says that Claudius’ reaction to the play will definitively prove whether or not he killed King Hamlet.
Characterization:
This act may only have 2 scenes, but it sure does tell us a lot more about our characters.
First: the king and queen. While both of them have requested that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to keep an eye on Hamlet, their reasons seem… different. Claudius makes it clear that he wants to know if there’s anything “More than his father’s death” that is making him act so strangely. Gertrude, on the other hand, seems more concerned with the benefit they could have on her son, since they’re friends. Similarly, when Polonius mentions that he knows the reason for Hamlet’s behavior, Claudius is intrigued, saying “Oh, speak of that. That do I long to hear” while Gertrude is sure that it’s just “His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage.” Claudius, it seems, wants to know just how much Hamlet knows. However, Gertrude is not innocent, especially in the eyes of her son. In fact, Gertrude stands in sharp contrast to Hecuba, the wife of Priam. In his speech, the player describes Hecuba’s grief, saying, “The instant burst of clamor that she made… Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven / And passion in the gods.” In other words, her grief at the loss of her husband would have made even the gods cry. Meanwhile, Gertrude has gotten over the loss of her husband and married another man within a couple of months.
Now for those interchangeable “friends” of Hamlet: Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. No wait - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. When Gertrude talks about rewarding them for their help, they feed the egos of their majesties by pointing out the power they have. In fact, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “lay our service freely at your feet / To be commanded.” Oh yes, Mister King, we’ll do whatever you want! In addition to being major suck UPs, they also suck AS friends. Though they joke around with Hamlet, they either lie to him or ignore his question when he asks them over half a dozen times why they’ve come to visit. Luckily, he sees straight through their deception.
Speaking of deception, let’s talk about Polonius. If you look up the definition of duplicity, you’d probably find his picture. Or maybe he’d be under irony. After all, back in Act 1, he told his son “To thine own self be true.” And in this act, he literally sends someone to spy on his son. Be yourself, but also I don’t trust who you are. Later, he delivers another of Shakespeare’s most quoted lines: “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Ironically, he then is anything but brief, even talking in circles, like “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness, / What is ’t but to be nothing else but mad?” Soooo the definition of being mad is… madness. Helpful. It’s like he’s desperately trying to reach the minimum word count of an essay. Actually, maybe brevity IS the soul of wit, since Polonius is not brief OR witty. Hamlet talks circles around Polonius to two effects: it makes Hamlet seem crazy in the eyes of Polonius, and it also demonstrates Hamlet’s cleverness. For instance, Hamlet identifies Polonius by calling him a “fishmonger.” This is an insult - which I’ll talk about a little later, but Polonius thinks: “he knew me not at first.”
Hamlet’s intelligence and perceptiveness are really clear. Even though he acted super crazy with Ophelia, his behavior seems intentional, especially considering all the hidden references he makes to her in his conversation with Polonius, which reinforce the idea that his “insanity” relates to his relationship with her. He also immediately knows why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have come. He points out that, even in the midst of his supposed “madness,” he still knows “ a hawk from a handsaw.” In other words, he can easily spot the duplicity of his so-called “friends.” And again, there’s Hamlet’s word play, full of double meanings and hidden insults. Perhaps my favorite is when Polonius says he has to leave, and Hamlet replies “You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will / more willingly part withal.” Sick burn, bruh! However, it’s worth noting that Hamlet does follow this up with “except my life.” Is this an attempt to seem in the grips of a mental break, or is this further evidence of his very deep depression? He did express the same sentiment the first time we met him, and sadly, this won’t be the last time.
Analysis:
Yet again, many of the themes and motifs revolve around Dishonesty and the difference between Appearance and Reality. Polonius, in particular, is an excellent example of this. You really can’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He acts like a caring father to Laertes and a friend to Hamlet, but behind the scenes, he really isn’t either one. Hamlet points this out after he calls Polonius a fishmonger, which is a slang term for a procurer or “pimp,” and then states, “I would you were so honest a man,” meaning that Polonius is less honest than a procurer. He goes on to say that, “To be honest… is to be one / man picked out of ten thousand,” meaning that honesty is very rare. Furthermore, Hamlet instantly recognizes the deception of his friends, and eventually points out their dishonesty, saying, “You were sent for, / and there is a kind of confession in your looks which / your modesties have not craft enough to color.” However, he continues to put on a friendly appearance to them, as they do with him. In fact, later, they say that they will wait upon him, and Hamlet replies “I will not sort you with the rest of my / servants, for, to speak to you like an honest man, I am / most dreadfully attended.” To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, this sounds like Hamlet’s servants are not good. However, he could mean that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dreadful attendants, unlike his regular servants. Spying also seems to be all the rage in this act. Let’s remind ourselves of the many spy missions: 1) Polonius has Reynaldo spy on Laertes, 2) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are supposed to spy on Hamlet, 3) Polonius and Claudius plan to spy on Hamlet and Ophelia, and finally 4) Hamlet will spy on Claudius during the play. Basically, we should remember that appearances can be deceiving, even in the people we thought we could most trust.
Along the lines of appearance is Performance. Obviously, people need to perform or act in order to spy, but performance becomes way more literal with the arrival of the players, or actors. After the actor’s monologue about Hecuba, Hamlet wonders to himself how the performer is able to “force his soul so to his own conceit… / Tears in his eyes.” Hamlet is impressed that his performance seems so sincere, despite being an act of fiction. Sure, Hamlet’s been acting “mad” in front of Polonius, but he’s about to use even more performance, since “The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.”
Mental Health comes up several times in this act. Now, it should be noted that “madness” isn’t really a word we’d use nowadays to refer to someone struggling with their mental health, but this was written during the English Renaissance, so I will at times use the language they used, since we can’t send a psychologist back in time. Anyways, Polonius believes that Hamlet is “Mad for [Ophelia’s] love” and others seem to agree. However, there is a complete lack of understanding or empathy for Hamlet’s mental health concerns. And though he might not be “insane” in the way that everyone believes, he certainly is struggling and demonstrates suicidal ideation multiple times. But does anyone choose to have an honest conversation with him or even ask him what’s wrong? Nope. Instead, they decide that spying is the most logical response, which further proves to Hamlet that there is no one he can really trust.
Speaking of Hamlet’s distrust, let’s talk about Gender. Hamlet degrades women at just about every opportunity. He refers to Fortune as a “strumpet,” which is ye olde word for a sex worker. He and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern make inappropriate and sexual jokes about Fortune, or Luck, which is personified as a woman. If you’re still not convinced, think about how he refers to Ophelia, his love interest. He calls her father a “fishmonger,” or procurer, which would make Ophelia a metaphorical sex worker. In fact, Polonius really is using her, since he plans to send her out kind of like bait so that he and Claudius can spy on Hamlet. And it’s clear that Hamlet knows Polonius is involved in her behavior, since he alludes to the Biblical Jephthah, who sacrificed his daughter. Later, Hamlet talks about carrion, which literally means rotting flesh, but can also be used as a lewd reference to a woman, and then he seems to abruptly change the subject, asking if Polonius has a daughter. In fact, he’s not really changing the subject at all, and is instead making a vulgar reference to Ophelia. He then continues this inappropriate talk, saying “your daughter may conceive.” This can refer to conceiving an idea, but of course it can also mean pregnancy. It’s like he’s messing with Polonius by talking about his own physical relationship with Ophelia, all the while degrading the person he’s supposed to love. And it really seems like Hamlet did love her, since he wrote in the letter, “Doubt thou the stars are fire, / Doubt that the sun doth move, / Doubt truth to be a liar, / But never doubt I love.” In a world full of deception, Hamlet says the one thing she can trust is his love for her. But this was before his mother married his uncle and before Ophelia was used as a pawn by her father. Did their seeming betrayal make Hamlet distrust all women? Or were his words of love exactly what Laertes and Polonius said they were: just words?
In Act 1, I talked about Hamlet’s trouble with the Complexity of Morality, and in this Act, it evolves into his struggle with Thought vs Action. In his soliloquy at the end of scene 2, Hamlet refers to himself as a “John-a-dreams,” or daydreamer, always thinking but doing nothing, despite the fact that he has real motivation. He is frustrated with his own lack of action and even wonders aloud, “Am I a coward?” However, he simply can’t go forward with revenge without being absolutely and completely sure that the ghost wasn’t a trick of the devil, and that his uncle really is a murderer.
Food for Thought:
Now it’s time for me to leave you with some food for thought. Consider these questions as you reflect on Act 2 and continue with the play.
First, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren’t very good spies, and other characters already plan to spy on Hamlet. So what’s their purpose? Why might Shakespeare have included them?
Second, consider all the spying in Act 2. What does this suggest about power and control?
Third, why is it important that both Gertrude and Ophelia are complicit in the manipulation and surveillance of Hamlet? What is its effect, and what is Shakespeare suggesting about gender?
Fourth, in acts 1 and 2, Hamlet regularly references Greek and Roman mythology, like Hercules, satyrs, Niobe, Pyrrhus, and Hecuba. How do these allusions enhance our understanding of the play and the characters?
Finally, Hamlet said he might have to put on an “antic disposition” in order to seek revenge, and indeed he has. So far, what purpose has it served and to what extent has it been effective?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good people who don’t spy on their friends or sons.
