Transcription of Hamlet Act 2Discussion Questions Key
1 Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 Hamlet Act 2 Discussion Questions Key Act 2, Scene 1 1) This act opens with Polonius and Reynaldo. A) What two main purposes is Polonius sending Reynaldo to Paris? (Lines 1 17) B) What does Polonius give Reynaldo permission to do? (lines 18 29) C) How does Reynaldo respond? D) What do you think of Polonius as a parent so far? 2) A very upset Ophelia then enters the scene. A) How does Ophelia describe Hamlet s actions and appearance in their most recent interaction? (lines 85 112) Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 B) How does Polonius respond to his daughter?
2 C) Remember at the end of Act 1 that Hamlet made Horatio promise not to tell about Hamlet speaking with the ghost even if he started to act crazy? ( 192). Do you think that Hamlet is faking this crazy scene with Ophelia or is he really distraught that she has been ignoring him? Act 2, Scene 2 3) In this scene we are introduced to the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of Hamlet s friends from Wittenberg. A) Why have these men been summoned to Denmark? (lines 1 18) B) How does the queen show her gratitude towards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
3 (19 26) 4) Voltemond and Cornelius bring news of Fortinbras and Norway. A) How is the problem of young Fortinbras solved? (lines 64 72) Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 B) What concession has Norway made to quiet young Fortinbras? C) Fortinbras and Hamlet are similar because both young men s fathers were kings and were both killed. How are the two foils to one another? In other words, how are the two different? 5) Polonius meets with Claudius and Gertrude, declares that Hamlet is mad in lines 99 101, and reads a letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia in lines 123 132.
4 A) When Claudius asks Polonius how Ophelia received Hamlet s love in line 137, how does Polonius react? B) How does he explain Hamlet s love-sickness to the king and queen? Take a look at lines 155 160) C) What is Polonius s plan for testing his theory that Hamlet is love-crazy? (lines 173 174 & 176 181). Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 6) Hamlet appears to be mad as he is speaking to Polonius beginning on line185. A) Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger which is a slang term for a pimp who is in charge of prostitutes. What do you make of this?
5 Also consider what Hamlet says about Ophelia in lines 201 203) B) What are some lines that suggest that Polonius is questioning Hamlet s madness? 7) Hamlet then meets with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. After greeting his friends, they exchange a few pun in lines 246 254. A) When Hamlet asks his friends why they are vising Denmark, which to him is a prison, how do they respond? B) Why does Hamlet not believe his friends? C) How does Hamlet describe his personal problems to his friends? What does he tell them? (lines 316 334). 8) After Hamlet and his friends talk about the players who are coming to perform a play for the kingdom, Hamlet says, But my uncle-father and aunt-mother are I am but mad north-north-west.
6 / When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw (lines 399 400 & 401 402). Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 A) What does he mean? B) What does Hamlet mean with his imagery of weather and birds? 9) When meeting the players, Hamlet requests that the lead actor perform a passionate speech about "Aeneas' tale to Dido, especially when he speaks of Priam's slaughter." (lines 471 473). A) Why is this speech especially interesting to Hamlet ? (lines 470 489, 493 522, 527, & 530- 544). B) What arrangement does Hamlet make with Player 1 in lines 566 569?
7 C) Why do you think he asks this of the actor? What are his intentions? 10) Hamlet 's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I" is the first and only soliloquy of Act 2. A) Why does Hamlet angrily compare himself to the actor? (lines 577 - 593) Ms. Kizlyk AP Language Semester 2 B) Why is Hamlet so angry with himself? (lines 593 623). C) What does Hamlet resolve to do? D) What are some poetic/rhetorical devices that Hamlet uses in this soliloquy?
