Hamlet Act II Quotes

By indirections find directions out - Polonius, S1

Polonius sends Reynaldo to not only give letters and money but to spy on Laertes and find out what he can, even spreading lies to find the true opinions people have of his son.

This is the very ecstasy of love - Polonius, S1

Polonius believes that Hamlet has been driven mad by the rejection he has faced from Ophelia

Something have you heard of Hamlet’s transformation - Claudius, S2

Claudius has called for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s childhood friends, to gather information on Hamlet while comforting him to seek the cause of his ‘madness’

I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, Both to my God and to my gracious king - Polonius, S2

Polonius shows his devotion to Claudius is parallel to that of God, showing his blind devotion to the King

I doubt it is no other but the main: his father’s death, and our o’erhasty marriage - Gertrude, S2

Gertrude shows how insightful she is and how deeply she knows her son compared to the rest of the royal court. This could also refer to the fact that Hamlet may already be partially mad with the death of his father and mother’s quick marraige

Brevity is the soul of wit - Polonius, S2

Polonius says that simplicity is the heart of quick thinking, though this is ironic as Polonius is famously known for rambling

More matter, with less art - Gertrude, S2

Gertrude suggests Polonius speak with more substance and less flamboyancy to his words

These tedious old fools! - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet now knows that his show has been a success

Then is doomsday near - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet asks if the day of reckoning is upon them, a day of certain death, alluding to the fact that Hamlet must kill Claudius, however this could also pun on the fact that Hamlet also dies

Prison - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet feels imprisoned in Elsinore and the court, but also his thoughts

There is nothing more either good or bad, but thinking makes it so - Hamlet, S2

The creation of morals and the concept of bad and good is simply one made by our minds. Hamlet knows what he must do is both bad, as it means death for his uncle, but is also good for the kingdom of Denmark

Foul and pestilent congregation of vapours - Hamlet, S2

Ironic as Hamlet, who is claiming to see no beauty in the world around him, describes his surroundings with such eloquence that it is hard to believe that he feels so melancholy

The paragon of animals - Hamlet, S2

A reference to ‘hyperion to a satyr’ and animalistic ways. Hamlet wishes to bemore of a man and less like the animals surrounding him

What is this quintessence of dust? - Hamlet, S2

What is the point of life? Shows Hamlet’s nihilistic views on life

My uncle-father and aunt-mother - Hamlet, S2

Critising and pointing out the insestuous nature of the marriage between his mother and uncle

I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he is only mad sometimes and is sane the rest, and in effect, telling them he is faking it

Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too, at each ear a hearer: that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet tells Guildenstern he regards Claudius to be somewhat of a buffoon and childlike

Jephthah - Hamlet, S2

Jephthah sacrificed his only daughter to win in battle, much like how Polonius was to use his only daughter to find the truth of Hamlet’s insanity for Claudius

The rugged Pyrrhus - Hamlet, S2

Greek general who killed Priam, the king of Troy in the siege of Troy

Black as his purpose - Hamlet, S2

Pyrrhus had malintentions as he planned to murder the king of Troy, a parallel to Hamlet and his plans to murder the king of Denmark

Pyrrhus stood, and like a neutral to his will and matter, did nothing - First Player, S2

When Pyrrhus was finally about to kill Priam, he froze and could not act, an act of procrastination, like Hamlet

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet barates himself, frustrated that he cannot have the same motivation as the player has for his art in his play’s story

What would he do, had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? He would drown the stage with tears - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet asks himself what would the player, who can force his soul to show this sadness, do if he endured the same suffering Hamlet has; he would cry endlessly with such emotion radiating from him

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

A parallel to Fortinbras; someone who is lazy and dirtied

But I am pigeon-livered - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet states that he is weak, lily-livered

I should have fatted all the region kites with this slav’es offal - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet scolds himself for not killing Claudius sooner and feeding him, morsel by morsel, to the birds

I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet finally comes up with a plan to prove his uncles innocence or guilt in the form of a play

The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Hamlet is wary of the ghost, as the devil can appease those he wishes to manipulate

The play’s the thing wherin I’ll catch the conscience of the king - Hamlet, S2, soliloquy 3

Claudius’s reaction to the play will be how Hamlet identifies his uncle’s guilt

You are a fishmonger - Hamlet, S2

Hamlet accuses Polonius of procuring his own daughter to please Claudius

Though this be madness, yet there is method in it - Polonius, S2

Polonius claims that though Hamlet is “mad”, there is truth or logic behind it