ACT 2 Reading Questions
Scene 1
1. What is Polonius telling Reynaldo to do? What does this tell us about Polonius and
his way of thinking and acting?
2. Why is Ophelia so upset when she enters? What has happened to her?
Does Hamlet's appearance (in her telling) as a madman come as a
Surprise to us? How well has she obeyed her father's orders in 1.3?
3. What is Polonius' response to what Ophelia tells him? Where are they going?
Scene 2
1. Why have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to court? What is their relation to
Hamlet? What use does Claudius have for them? Does this remind you of Polonius’s
use for Reynaldo? Are there any significant differences?
2. We've now had several different explanations of Hamlet's madness: love (2.1.95,
114), his father's death (2.2.8), and that plus “our o'erhasty marriage” (2.2.60: note
Gertrude’s awareness of impropriety). Are people content with these explanations? Are
you?
3. What results have come from Cornelius’s and Voltemand’s trip to Norway?
What will Fortinbras be doing next? Can we expect to see him in Denmark after all? Why?
4. How effective is Polonius as a bearer of news? How convinced are Claudius and
Gertrude that Polonius has found the answer? How do they plan to test this answer?
5. How does Hamlet behave when he enters and speaks with Polonius?
6. How does Hamlet behave initially with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
Is it different from the way he just acted with Polonius? What does he immediately recognize
about their visit?
7. What play does Hamlet want the players to play? What does he want to do to the
play?
8. In Hamlet’s soliloquy at the end of the Act, he compares himself to the actor who has just finished a performance before him. What does the actor’s performance (of grief over a death) make him feel about himself? He complains that he hasn't acted on his vengeance. Why hasn't he? What do we learn he has doubts about? Why does he need the play? What will he learn from it?