HAMLET Act 2 Scene 1- 2 Questions

1) What does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?

Polonius tells Reynaldo to go to Paris, and make things up about his son Leatres. He plans to trap his son with false rumors about him.

2) What does this say about Polonius?

Polonius is very watchful, and doesn't really trust his son - or anybody.

3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?

Hamlet entered her room, with all his clothes dismantled, and he didn't say a word to her.

4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?

They have been sent to Denmark to spy on Hamlet.

5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?

The conversation between Aeneas and Dido where Aeneas is telling her about the death of King Priam at the hands of Pyrrhus. It mimics Hamlet's situation because Pyrrhus was also in pursuit of vengeance for his father's death.

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

7) “More matter less art”

Gertrude

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

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

10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”

Hamlet

11) List three metaphors (1 direct, 1 implied, 1 extended) from the play.

Direct: "Denmark's a prison"

Implied: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern selling themselves

Extended: Elsinore is a garden, and everyone is a different piece of it.

12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia?

Hamlet's love letter to Ophelia.

13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.

Hamlet is saying that nothing we do can be categorized as good or bad, and the only reason "terrible" actions such as murder are considered taboo is because we make them so.

14) What is a fishmonger?

A pimp

15) Who was Jephthah?

He is a man from the bible figure whose wife was a prostitute and he ended up killing his daughter.