Hamlet – Act 2 – Rising Action
- Hamlet himself is not present in Act 2 Scene 1, but the audience gets what could be
considered the first account of his madness from Ophelia in her first speech of any
real length in the play:
o “Lord Hamlet with his doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his
stockings fouled, ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt,
his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport as if he
had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors” - Hamlet is normally a well-
dressed, put together character, so this may be our first look at his madness
through Ophelia’s perspective. At this point Hamlet’s character becomes
incredibly ambiguous to the audience, because we know about his antic
disposition, and so all of this may be fake, but, at the same time, Hamlet does
seem to grow madder and madder as the play progresses, so if we conclude
him to be mad at the end, we must have a point at which he goes mad. The
time between Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 2 Scene 1 may be that point?
o “Mad for thy love” - may be Shakespeare’s suggestion that it is still an act.
Hamlet seems consistently to plant the idea that his madness is a result of his
love, through his actions and through letters which may not be real.
o “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to all the length
of his arm and with his other hand thus o’er his brow, he falls to such a
perusal of my face as ‘a would draw it... and to the last bended their light
on me” - we have this imagery of extreme grief and sorrow in “raised a sigh
so piteous and profound as it did seem to shatter all his bulk and end his
being”, and through it we understand that whether or not Hamlet is “mad”,
he is a man who is struggling with his mental state and his grief, and now the
burden of revenge. If we assume he isn’t mad, and he isn’t doing this so
Ophelia would tell Polonius who would tell the King, both of which are
assumptions that can correctly be made, this scene may just be a display of
grief – Hamlet seeks out someone he loves and learns of the depth of the
deception of Elsinore. Perhaps this scene isn’t his madness, it’s the beginning
of it / the catalyst for it.
o “This is the very ecstasy of love, whose violent property fordoes itself” -
there is some truth to what Polonius says – Hamlet’s actions do lead to self-
destruction and is therefore another argument for his Machiavellian
character – he is a character of profound intelligence and his slightly comedic
and foolish characterisation is considered as one of the effects of this
- This speech of Ophelia’s is significant because it is the first time the audience see
Hamlet after meeting with the ghost and may therefore be the first scene of his
grief. However, it may also be his first scene where he puts his “antic disposition” on
and pretends to be mad knowing Ophelia would tell Polonius who would tell
Claudius.
, - In Scene 2 the deception in Elsinore fully begins, as King Claudius brings Hamlet’s
childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to Elsinore to work out what is the
cause of Hamlet’s “madness”. Polonius is the first character to attempt to spy on
Hamlet (slight irony as he also continues being the character present at every scene
in which Hamlet is spied on), and is fooled by Hamlet
o “But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading” - Interesting line for
Gertrude and can be read in many ways – broken, ignored mother?
o “Excellent well, you are a fishmonger… then I would you were so honest a
man” - Double meaning – Pimp / fishmongers are not known for their
honesty, and so Hamlet may be addressing Polonius’ spying, suggesting he
knows he is being spied on and the whole scene is an act (antic disposition)
o “For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion –
have you a daughter … let her not walk i' th’ sun. Conception is a blessing,
but not as your daughter may conceive” - conversation turns on Ophelia –
suggests that she is already pregnant? If the son kisses the daughter, she may
breed
o “Slanders sir, for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey
beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
plum tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with the
most weak hams” - comedic and clearly Hamlet’s act of madness – makes
fun of Polonius and Polonius is too stupid to understand
o “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”- somehow Polonius is
often, almost by mistake, correct about his beliefs about characters. Hamlet
seems mad but there is a sort of truth to everything he says
o “You cannot sir take from me anything I would more willingly part withal –
except my life, except my life, except my life” - repetition of “except my life”
- although Hamlet probably does this for comedic effect, like his repetition of
“words, words, words”, there is once again some truth to what he says – he
has previously mentioned suicide and the worthlessness of his life and so we
understand that he is being truthful in wishing that someone, in this instance
Polonius, would take his life
- Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are then presented to Hamlet, who immediately
realises that they are there to spy on him and greets them coldly.
o “Denmark’s a prison... We think not so my lord” - R + G are going to be paid
for their work, but aren’t very successful, which may be for 2 reasons: Hamlet
is much smarter than they are, so knows how to fool them, and they don’t
seem very willing to genuinely listen to him. He may have told them why he
thinks Denmark is a prison, but they don’t care to listen to him. Unlike
Polonius, there doesn’t seem much doubt about their characters
o “For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” - A
question of mental attitude + a theme common in literature of the time.
Milton in Paradise Lost explores it: “The mind is its own place and can make a
heaven of hell, a hell of heaven
- Hamlet himself is not present in Act 2 Scene 1, but the audience gets what could be
considered the first account of his madness from Ophelia in her first speech of any
real length in the play:
o “Lord Hamlet with his doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his
stockings fouled, ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt,
his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport as if he
had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors” - Hamlet is normally a well-
dressed, put together character, so this may be our first look at his madness
through Ophelia’s perspective. At this point Hamlet’s character becomes
incredibly ambiguous to the audience, because we know about his antic
disposition, and so all of this may be fake, but, at the same time, Hamlet does
seem to grow madder and madder as the play progresses, so if we conclude
him to be mad at the end, we must have a point at which he goes mad. The
time between Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 2 Scene 1 may be that point?
o “Mad for thy love” - may be Shakespeare’s suggestion that it is still an act.
Hamlet seems consistently to plant the idea that his madness is a result of his
love, through his actions and through letters which may not be real.
o “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to all the length
of his arm and with his other hand thus o’er his brow, he falls to such a
perusal of my face as ‘a would draw it... and to the last bended their light
on me” - we have this imagery of extreme grief and sorrow in “raised a sigh
so piteous and profound as it did seem to shatter all his bulk and end his
being”, and through it we understand that whether or not Hamlet is “mad”,
he is a man who is struggling with his mental state and his grief, and now the
burden of revenge. If we assume he isn’t mad, and he isn’t doing this so
Ophelia would tell Polonius who would tell the King, both of which are
assumptions that can correctly be made, this scene may just be a display of
grief – Hamlet seeks out someone he loves and learns of the depth of the
deception of Elsinore. Perhaps this scene isn’t his madness, it’s the beginning
of it / the catalyst for it.
o “This is the very ecstasy of love, whose violent property fordoes itself” -
there is some truth to what Polonius says – Hamlet’s actions do lead to self-
destruction and is therefore another argument for his Machiavellian
character – he is a character of profound intelligence and his slightly comedic
and foolish characterisation is considered as one of the effects of this
- This speech of Ophelia’s is significant because it is the first time the audience see
Hamlet after meeting with the ghost and may therefore be the first scene of his
grief. However, it may also be his first scene where he puts his “antic disposition” on
and pretends to be mad knowing Ophelia would tell Polonius who would tell
Claudius.
, - In Scene 2 the deception in Elsinore fully begins, as King Claudius brings Hamlet’s
childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to Elsinore to work out what is the
cause of Hamlet’s “madness”. Polonius is the first character to attempt to spy on
Hamlet (slight irony as he also continues being the character present at every scene
in which Hamlet is spied on), and is fooled by Hamlet
o “But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading” - Interesting line for
Gertrude and can be read in many ways – broken, ignored mother?
o “Excellent well, you are a fishmonger… then I would you were so honest a
man” - Double meaning – Pimp / fishmongers are not known for their
honesty, and so Hamlet may be addressing Polonius’ spying, suggesting he
knows he is being spied on and the whole scene is an act (antic disposition)
o “For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion –
have you a daughter … let her not walk i' th’ sun. Conception is a blessing,
but not as your daughter may conceive” - conversation turns on Ophelia –
suggests that she is already pregnant? If the son kisses the daughter, she may
breed
o “Slanders sir, for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey
beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
plum tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with the
most weak hams” - comedic and clearly Hamlet’s act of madness – makes
fun of Polonius and Polonius is too stupid to understand
o “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”- somehow Polonius is
often, almost by mistake, correct about his beliefs about characters. Hamlet
seems mad but there is a sort of truth to everything he says
o “You cannot sir take from me anything I would more willingly part withal –
except my life, except my life, except my life” - repetition of “except my life”
- although Hamlet probably does this for comedic effect, like his repetition of
“words, words, words”, there is once again some truth to what he says – he
has previously mentioned suicide and the worthlessness of his life and so we
understand that he is being truthful in wishing that someone, in this instance
Polonius, would take his life
- Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are then presented to Hamlet, who immediately
realises that they are there to spy on him and greets them coldly.
o “Denmark’s a prison... We think not so my lord” - R + G are going to be paid
for their work, but aren’t very successful, which may be for 2 reasons: Hamlet
is much smarter than they are, so knows how to fool them, and they don’t
seem very willing to genuinely listen to him. He may have told them why he
thinks Denmark is a prison, but they don’t care to listen to him. Unlike
Polonius, there doesn’t seem much doubt about their characters
o “For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” - A
question of mental attitude + a theme common in literature of the time.
Milton in Paradise Lost explores it: “The mind is its own place and can make a
heaven of hell, a hell of heaven
