Act 2 Scene 2 Flashcards
R+G talk to H, the actors and Hamlet's soliloquy (35 cards)
Who has the King sent for at the beginning of the scene?
“Welcome dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern… The need we have to use you did provoke our hasty sending.”
What does the King ask of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
“I entreat you both… to gather, whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus that opened lies within our remedy” - He asks them to spend time with Hamlet to be able to figure out what is wrong with him and so that the King may be able to help him.
What does the queen say that shows why they SPECIFICALLY asked for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
“He hath talked much of you, and sure I am, two men there are not living to whom he more adheres” - apparently, Hamlet trusts them a lot and respects them.
What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern reply to the King and Queen’s request?
R: “Both your majesties might by the sovereign power you has of us, put your dread pleasures more into command than to treaty.”
G: “But we both obey, and here give up ourselves… to be commanded” - they point out that they could have simply been commanded rather than requested but they will complete the task.
Once Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been escorted away, how does Polonius show how narcissistic and egocentric he is?
“Have I my Lord? I assure my good liege, I hold my duty as I hold my soul, Both to my God and to my gracious King. And I do think… that I have found the very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy” - a lot of repetition of ‘I’, He talks too much and loves the sound of his own voice.
When Polonius leaves to get the Norwegian ambassador, Valtemand, what does the queen reveal about what she thinks is the cause of Hamlet’s lunacy?
“I doubt it is no other but the main, His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage” - she knows her son well.
What does Valtemand reveal about Fortinbras?
“Upon our first, he [Norway] sent out to suppress his nephew’s levies, which to him appeared to be a preparation ‘gainst the Polack; But better looked into, he truly found it was against your highness” and so he “[sent] out arrests in Fortinbras; which he in brief obeys” and “makes vow… never more to give th’ assay of arms against your majesty… and his commission to employ those soldiers so levied, as before, against the Polack, with an entreaty… that it might please you to give quiet pass through your dominions for this enterprise” - Norway thought Fortinbras wanted to go for the Poles, it was actually the Danes, Fortinbras got told off, he obeyed and got rewarded with the commission of invading Poland.
What is the King’s reply to Fortinbras’ proposal?
“At our more considered time, we’ll read, answer and think upon this business.”
How is Polonius ironic when he’s starts to tell what he thinks is wrong with Hamlet?
“I will be brief” but then he says “That he’s mad tis true, tis true, tis pity, and pity tis tis true” and so on.
What does Polonius say, when he gets to the point, that the reason for Hamlet’s insanity is?
“I have a daughter… who… hath given me this” “‘To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most beautified Ophelia… but never doubt I love”. “
How can we see that Polonius is very risky and overconfident?
“[points to his head and shoulder] Take this, from this, if this be otherwise” - He’s betting his LIFE on it.
“Let me be no assistant for a state, but keep a farm and carters.” - and he’s willing to bet his JOB.
How does Hamlet act mad towards Polonius?
“you are a fishmonger” - he is mocking Polonius but Polonius doesn’t realise it.
“old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled… they have a plentiful lack of wit”
What does Polonius say aside about what he sees in Hamlet?
“said I was a fishmonger: ‘a is far gone, far gone, and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very near this.” - Speaking from experience, Polonius is convinced that Hamlet is mad.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in in’t”
What does Hamlet think of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern before they even enter the scene?
“These tedious old fools.” - possibly not as friends as they thought they were.
How does Hamlet foreshadow the rest of the plot?
“Doomsday is near”
How does Hamlet see Denmark?
“Denmark’s a prison” - he feels trapped by his situation, his family, his position.
R: “then the world is one”.
H: “A goodly one… Denmark being one o’ th’ worst” - insinuates Denmark is incredibly corrupted.
How does Rosencrantz flatter Hamlet when talking about why Denmark makes him feel trapped?
“Why then your ambition makes it one; ‘tis too narrow for your mind.” - Denmark feels small to Hamlet because he is so smart.
What question does Hamlet continue to emphasise on R+G? Do they answer?
“Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?” - they don’t answer.
What does Hamlet say to R+G to get over the ambiguity of their answers?
“I know the good King and Queen have sent for you.” - it shows Hamlet is not stupid/oblivious.
What does Hamlet tell R+G when they admit that they were sent for?
He tells them so they can “your secrecy to the King and Queen moult no feather. I have of late… lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises… this goodly frame the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory… why, it appears no other thing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.” - talks about life and being on earth. He explains a little without giving too much away.
How does Hamlet build up the idea of man but destroys it?
“What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, 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. And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman”
What does Rosencrantz say about the trends of theatre in London?
“there is sir, an aery of children, little eyases… and are most tyrannically clapped for’t; these are now the fashion” - child actors.
How does Hamlet criticise playwrights?
“Will they pursue the quality no longer they can sing? Will they not say afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common players - as it is most like, if their means are not better - their writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim against their own succession?”
How does Hamlet refer to the king and queen when he’s talking to Guildenstern? What does he say about what they think of him?
“my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived.”
