Home → Plays → Hamlet → Act 2 Scene 2 → Scene Analysis
Hamlet: Act 2, Scene 2 – analysis
Claudius hires spies to watch Hamlet, Polonius claims love is the cause of the madness, and the Players arrive at court.
Scene Profile – At a Glance
Location: A Hall in Elsinore Castle.
Characters: King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Hamlet, The Players.
Key Event: The Players arrive at court; Hamlet devises the "Mousetrap" plot to test Claudius's guilt.
The Atmosphere: A mix of political intrigue, philosophical depression, and theatrical excitement.
Key Quote: "The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King."
Significance: Hamlet moves from internal grief to external strategy, using art (theatre) as a weapon to uncover the truth.
Scene Summary
Claudius and Gertrude welcome Hamlet’s school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, instructing them to spy on Hamlet to discover the cause of his "transformation." Polonius arrives, claiming he has found the source of Hamlet's madness: unrequited love for Ophelia. He reads a love letter from Hamlet to the King and Queen as proof. Hamlet enters reading a book and is accosted by Polonius, whom he mocks with riddles ("fishmonger"). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then try to probe Hamlet, but he quickly deduces they were sent by the King. He confesses his deep depression ("this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory") but admits he is only mad "north-north-west." The Players arrive, and Hamlet asks for a speech about the slaughter of Priam. Moved by the First Player’s emotional delivery, Hamlet is left alone to berate himself for his own inaction ("O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"). He resolves to stage a play, The Murder of Gonzago, mimicking his father's death to catch Claudius's conscience.
Context
The War of the Theatres: Hamlet’s discussion about the "little eyases" (child actors) forcing the Players to travel is a direct reference to a real theatrical conflict in London around 1600, where boys' companies were stealing business from adult troupes like Shakespeare's.
Meta-Theatre: This scene is deeply self-reflexive. We watch an actor (Hamlet) watching an actor (The Player) pretending to be a character (Aeneas) watching a death (Priam). Shakespeare highlights the artificiality of the stage to question the nature of reality and emotion.
Prose vs Verse: Hamlet speaks in prose to Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, signalling his "antic" state and his low opinion of them. He switches back to verse for the Players and his soliloquy, reclaiming his nobility and intellect.
Character Focus
Hamlet: The Intellectual Critic
Here we see Hamlet’s brilliance. He runs circles around everyone intellectually. He deconstructs Polonius with satire, dismantles his "friends" with philosophy, and critiques the Players with professional expertise. However, this intellect is his barrier to action. He is so busy analysing the complexity of man ("What a piece of work is a man!") that he cannot perform the simple, brutal act of revenge.
Language and Technique
Classical Allusion: The Player’s speech focuses on the fall of Troy (Pyrrhus killing Priam). Pyrrhus, a son seeking revenge for his father (Achilles), serves as a bloody, decisive foil to the hesitant Hamlet.
Hyperbole: In his soliloquy, Hamlet uses extreme language to punish himself ("muddy-mettled rascal," "pigeon-livered"). He verbally flogs himself into a state of rage, trying to manufacture the emotion he feels he should naturally possess.
Chiasmus (Rhetorical Balance): "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." This riddle suggests his madness is directional—controlled and intermittent—rather than total chaos.
Key Quotes
Original:
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! 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? (Hamlet)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
A man is so miraculous, and noble, intelligent, and graceful as he moves! His actions make him look just like an angel! His understanding Godlike and his beauty is unsurpassed! The king of beasts! To me, what are we more than dust?
Analysis: This prose speech encapsulates Renaissance Humanism (celebrating human potential) but immediately subverts it with Nihilism ("quintessence of dust"). It reveals the depth of Hamlet’s depression; he intellectually understands the beauty of life but can no longer feel it emotionally.
_____
Original:
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Hamlet)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
I’m only crazy when the north wind blows; in southern winds, I’m sharper than a hawk.
Analysis: Hamlet drops the mask of madness to warn his "friends." He admits his insanity is calculated (dependent on the "wind" or circumstance). The phrase "hawk from a handsaw" is likely a corruption of "hawk from a hernshaw" (a heron), meaning he can distinguish between enemies and prey.
_____
Original:
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned...
And all for nothing!
For Hecuba! (Hamlet)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Oh, what a vagrant waste of space I am.
Is it not so unfair that this here actor,
With only fiction and his passionate dreams,
Could force himself to think his own deception
Is real enough to make his image fade…
And for what?
For Hecuba!
Analysis: Hamlet contrasts the Player’s "dream of passion" with his own lack of action. He is horrified that an actor can weep real tears for a fiction (Hecuba), while he, who has a real motive (a murdered father), says nothing. It highlights the disconnect between performing emotion and feeling it.
_____
Original:
The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. (Hamlet)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
Analysis: The rhyming couplet snaps the scene shut with decisive energy. It marks the transition from self-loathing to planning. Hamlet finds a way to act that suits his character: an intellectual, theatrical trap rather than physical violence.
Study Prompts (with suggested answers)
-
Benchmark Points:
They represent the "false friend" archetype.
They serve as tools of the King's surveillance.
They allow Hamlet to articulate his philosophy (the "What a piece of work" speech).
Suggested Answer: They serve as foils to Horatio (the true friend). Their willingness to spy on Hamlet for royal favour highlights the corruption of the court. Their presence forces Hamlet to keep his guard up, but also provides him with an audience for his philosophical musings on the nature of humanity and his own depression.
-
Benchmark Points:
Use of insults ("fishmonger," "old men have grey beards").
Feigned madness to speak truth.
Satirizing Polonius's sycophancy.
Suggested Answer: Hamlet treats Polonius with open mockery, veiled as insanity. Calling him a "fishmonger" (slang for a fleshmonger/pimp) attacks Polonius for using Ophelia as bait. Hamlet uses his "antic disposition" to insult Polonius’s age and lack of wit without fear of punishment, exposing the old man's foolishness.
-
Benchmark Points:
Pyrrhus as a foil to Hamlet (the avenging son).
The brutality of the imagery.
The hesitation of Pyrrhus (the "pause").
Suggested Answer: The speech mirrors Hamlet’s situation: Pyrrhus is a son seeking revenge for his father. However, Pyrrhus is bloodthirsty and decisive, slaughtering the old King Priam. The moment where Pyrrhus pauses before striking reflects Hamlet’s own delay, but Pyrrhus overcomes it to act, highlighting Hamlet’s continued inaction.
-
Benchmark Points:
Comparison of fiction vs. reality.
Guilt over his own lack of emotion.
The power of theatre to evoke truth.
Suggested Answer: Hamlet is ashamed that an actor can conjure physical symptoms of grief (tears, pale face) for a fictional character (Hecuba) purely through imagination, while he, with a real cause for grief, remains paralysed. It triggers his self-loathing ("rogue and peasant slave") and spurs him to finally take action.
-
Benchmark Points:
To verify the Ghost's honesty.
To gain objective proof of Claudius's guilt.
To justify revenge to Hamlet's conscience.
Suggested Answer: Hamlet needs objective proof because he fears the Ghost might be a devil trying to damn him. The play is a psychological test; if Claudius reacts to the reenactment of the murder, Hamlet will know the Ghost is honest and can proceed with the assassination with a clear conscience.