Act 2 scene 2

ACT II

1) What is does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?
He wants  him to spy on his son and make up rumors about him to see if they are true.

2) What does this say about Polonius?
It says that he isn't a very trustworthy person. He will only do something if it directly benefits him. He reinforces a motif of lying/spying.

3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?
She is mad because Hamlet was putting the moves on her but she turned him down. She could be mad that Hamlet had gotten so frisky. In the mind of a teenage boy, one would see Hamlet pulling, "The Naked Man." In which case, the man surprises the woman with nothing more than his birthday suit. Said woman then begins to make woopy with the filthies, and maybe I should stop there. Anyways, she didn't like it! Now I wonder if she really wanted to turn him down. Maybe that was what upset her.


4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?
They are supposed to spy on Hamlet and find out what's making him so sad.

5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?
Hamlet asks him to recite a play about Dido. It was about getting revenge for their father, that is why it mimics him.


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 is telling Polonius that Hamlet was coming on to her and she did what he told her to do.


7) “More matter less art”
This means get to the point, and the Queen thinks Polonius is stupid because he goes on and on just talking bullshit.


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,
He is planning his attack on Claudius, whilst questioning his own life and the legitimacy of the ghost being his father all at the same time. He then plans that to kill the King, first he would do this play to see his reaction, ultimately making the decision off of that.


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.”
This is what Polonius says to Reynaldo when he tells him to make rumors about Laretes to see if they are true.

10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”
This is one of Hamlet's moments. Moments where he is acting like a psychopath for his own comic relief possibly. Anyways he is saying that the sun can bring out good things, just as it can bring out bad things. Hamlet is the sun, and Ophelia is the dog.

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

D: for denmark. Denmark is a prison to Hamlet.
I: is the second one, so I is for the second letter in pImp! Which is what a fishmonger is!
E: Hamlet is the sun?

12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia?
He pulled "The Naked Man"

13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.
This is when Hamlet's friends Guildenster and Rosencrats try to find out why he is so sad. He says Denmark is like a prison. What this quote does is bring up the idea of who is to say what is good or bad? Is bad really bad? Because it a 'bad' thing might be good for somebody else. It's just all about how you look at it.

14) What is a fishmonger?
Muthha Phukkin P.I.M.P!

15) Who was Jephthah?
Hamlet compared Polonius to him. Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+11&version=NIV