Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hamlet Act 2, Scene 1

1. Summary: First, Polonius has Reynaldo go off to find news about Laertes. Then Ophelia comes into Polonius’s room, very upset, and tells him of her encounter with Hamlet, which is what has caused her to become upset. Hamlet has acted insane in front of her. Polonius determines that Hamlet has gone crazy because he has kept Ophelia from him and decides to tell Claudius of this idea.



2. Questions: Polonius – If you had known that Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, would you have forced Ophelia to stop seeing him? I don’t think you would have. Polonius – Why do you distrust Laertes so much that you send someone to spy on him? Is Ophelia trying to make her father feel guilty for keeping her from seeing Hamlet when she comes into his room to describe her encounter with Hamlet when he is acting insane?



3. Quotations: Polonius says “But beshrew my jealousy!” when he begins to think that he caused Hamlet to lose his mind by keeping Ophelia and him apart because Hamlet really does love Ophelia. He is saying that he is upset to have suspected Hamlet’s intentions regarding Ophelia to be anything but true because it has brought an unfortunate consequence upon Hamlet. This is nice because he actually acknowledges his fault in separating the two young people even though they both truly love one another, as he believes they do, and because he actually feels bad about bringing about Hamlet’s craziness, as he believes he has done.


Polonius says “This is the very ecstasy of love,/ Whose violent property fordoes itself/ And leads the will to desperate undertakings/ As oft as any passion under heaven/ That does afflict our natures” to Ophelia once she has told him of Hamlet crazy actions. He basically is trying to tell her that love can make people do crazy things. The reason I like this quote is because it sounds nice and flows well.

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