Act 2, Scene 2

What happens?

• Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern they need to find out the cause of Hamlet’s strange behaviour

• Claudius and Polonius come up with a plan

• Hamlet makes jokes to confuse Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

• Hamlet plans ‘play within a play’ to get Claudius to reveal his guilt

Poetry to prose

Suggests a shift

Antic disposition is in pros. Hero is fool

Antic Disposition

Hamlet is mocking, confusing and misleading to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

“I am but mad north-north-west. When the wine is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw”

Knows what he wants but putting on an act of madness

“Seems to me a sterile promontory”

Empty

Cleaning c/r with rot and decay

“Quintessence of dust”

Perfect example of lots of dust. Hyperbole

“Foul and pestilent congregation of vapours”

Heavens vs poverty

C/R the seats in the Globe

“Eeyrie of children, little erases, that cry out on the top of question”

Child actors are awful

Violent imagery

“Priam’s slaughter”

“Blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons”

C/R “incestuous sheets”

Enter the players

Hamlet feels genuinely happy, possible envisioning his plan for Claudius. Ironic due to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to talk to Claudius

Aeneid

Emphasise revenge plot and sense of anticipation

Hamlet’s inability act

In Greek mythology, Priam, the King of Troy, is killed by Pyrrhus (also known as Neoptolemus), the son of Achilles, during the sack of Troy, after Paris, Priam's son, abducted Helen, leading to the Trojan War