Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
What happens in Act 2, Scene 1 of Hamlet?
Polonius sends money to his son Laertes, and Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet is behaving strangely.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Act 2, Scene 1. (2-minute read)
What happens in Act 2, Scene 2 of Hamlet?
Claudius and Gertrude try to determine the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior, summoning help from two of his school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius receives good diplomatic news about Norway. A troupe of actors arrives, and Hamlet plans to use them to test Claudius.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Act 2, Scene 2. (3-minute read)
Are any important characters introduced in Act 2 of Hamlet?
The very minor character of Reynaldo appears in Scene 1, when he receives instructions from Polonius on how to spy on Laertes. In Scene 2, there is a reference to Prince Fortinbras of Norway, who will appear later in the play. Of more importance to Act 2 are the odd, interchangeable duo of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, school friends of Hamlet’s who jump at the opportunity to betray their friend when Claudius and Gertrude ask them to spy on Hamlet and report back to them in Scene 2. Their duplicity contrasts with the steadfastness of Hamlet’s truest friend in the play, Horatio.
Read the in-depth analysis of the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. (2-minute read)
Are there any key themes in Act 2 of Hamlet?
This short two-scene act contains some notable speeches about the use and misuse of words, which is a key theme of Hamlet. These include the Scene 1 directions on how to be deceptive that Polonius gives to the servant that he sends to Paris to spy on Laertes, his unintentionally hilarious “brevity is the soul of wit” statement in Scene 2, and Hamlet’s “words, words, words” lamentation in Scene 2.
Read about The Power of Words as a Theme (the sixth) of the play.
The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.
The above quote spoken by Hamlet are fittingly the last words from Act 2 since it is in Scene 2 of that they important theme of Performance versus Reality takes root. In some ways the theme ties into the theme of Madness versus Cunning since we cannot be sure whether or how much Hamlet is insane or just pretending to be so. However, the sudden appearance of an acting troupe in the castle in Scene 2 and Hamlet’s quick decision to take control of them and staging a play to help him determine Claudius’s culpability in his father’s murder adds a much deeper dimension to the theme. This “the play within the play” device gives Shakespeare (the most famous playwright of all time) the opportunity to comment on the nature of theater and how it can blur the distinctions between what is real and what is just performative.
Read about Performance versus Reality as a Theme (the fourth) of the play.
Are there any important quotes in Act 2 of Hamlet?
Two of the most significant quotes from Scene 1 of Act 2 come in Polonius’s speech instructing Reynaldo on how to spy on Laertes. Scene 2 has several key quotes, including some of the ones discussed above. It also contains a quote discussed at length in our Famous Quotes Explained for the play in which Hamlet movingly describes his melancholy feelings since his father’s death and goes into depth in describing his belief that human life—although often glorious while it lasts—is ultimately fleeting and of little lasting importance in terms of the larger scheme of the universe.
