Because this particular scene is the longest so far, I think it may be beneficial to summarize the more important points rather than take up the entire first page of the blog. One might not get the emotional content that lies within the lengthy speeches, but that's just life now, isn't it?
Scene two begins with Claudius and Gertrude discussing Hamlet's new "transformation" with his old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Their majesties think it would a good idea for the two of them to spend time with Hamlet and discover the reason for his behaviour so as to resolve the probelm quickly. Polonius now enters with the ambassadors, which were sent to Norway to discuss the possible outbreak of war between the two nations. Voltemand then describes how the events transpired and goes on to explain Fortinbras, the nephew of ol' King Norway, was responsible this tension. He lied to his uncle, using Poland as his excuse to go to war, but in reality, Fortinbras planned to attack Denmark instead. All of this, he confessed to his uncle, who, being so thrilled with his honesty, awarded him 3,000 crowns ($$$), permission to keep his army and go through with his invasion of Poland. The king of Norway also requests permission for this same army to march through Denmark in order to reach Poland, so that may be foreshadowing some fight scenes in the future, we don't really know yet.
After the ambassadors take their leave, Polonius says he may have discovered the reason for Hamlet's newfound madness. He thinks it is because of his request towards Ophelia to end any sort of relationship they might have. At this point, Hamlet enters and they discuss how he is feeling. After some chit-chat, Hamlet is with his two friends Rosencrants and Guildenstern. All three discuss having some actors perform for them. Once these actors arrive, Hamlet welcomes them quite courteously and they talk about acting and so on. Hamlet asks an actor, before he and his group retire for the night, if it would be possible to insert some lines of his own creation into the play they plan to perform and if he could memorize them by tomorrow. The actor states this would be a welcomed act and he'd be happy to do so. After Hamlet is left alone, he describes his plans in regards to his usurper uncle, Claudius. The lines he came up with are similar to the murder committed by said uncle, so Hamlet believes he can use this play as a means of having Claudius accidentally blurt out a confession or "catch his conscience".
Questions
Why do you think Shakespeare chose to add in all of the extra dialogue and make this scene so long instead of adding in another one?
Evan, you've done an extraordinary job of summarizing or abstracting a long scene.
ReplyDeleteMr. Taylor and I had a discussion today about how difficult it can be to not simply rewrite the scene by including every single detail. You've done a good job of selecting central events upon which to focus, such as how the "off-stage" events in Norway are playing out and how Ophelia becomes caught up in all the plotting and counter-plotting that exists between Hamlet, Polonius, Claudius and Gertrude.
I'm not sure that I have an answer for your question. Perhaps I'll wait to hear from a few of your classmates and check back later.
Thanks for your hard work!
Thank you soooo much! I found this scene hard to understand. I personally think that Shakespeare probably didn't add another scene because he didn't think there was enough "information" to make two scenes.
ReplyDeleteI think that Shakespeare chose to add in all of the extra dialogue and make the scene longer because most of these extra dialogue connect with Hamlet's assassination of the King. I think it was in act one scene five where the ghost describes how he was killed by Claudius, which also leads to Hamlet being crazy near Ophelia just to get the King's attention so he could kill him for his father. In Act two, Scene 2 Polonius knows the reason why Hamlet is acting so crazy, so the events leading up to Act two was all related to Hamlets assassination of the King.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job Evan!!
Another consideration... Shakespeare didn't impose the Act and scene divisions himself. They were added later by editors. Does that little bit of information change anything?
ReplyDeleteI think the scene was "extensive" so to speak because the main plot actually seems to be in motion because Hamlet only said he was going to get revenge. But actions speak louder than words so now we wait.
ReplyDeleteBut it seems like Hamlet needs some extra motivation by trying to get Claudius to flat out confess after watching the play that the acting troupe is soon to perform. He was witness to a supernatural occurrence and he doesn’t seem all for just killing his uncle, in order to follow through on what he promised to do without confirmation. This may be because he’s afraid to kill a possibly innocent man. So if the king becomes agitated by the play that might be all the motivation Hamlet needs to get the job done.
I mean if he just wanted to stab Claudius he probably could have just grabbed his weapon of choice and done it quickly without hesitation but he hasn't... So why is this?
Hamlet also becomes disgusted that his own friends in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to spy on him because everyone thinks he’s mad. But realistically he’s on a mission.
So if Hamlet sees the reaction he’s looking for along with the anger and the promise he made that may be all he needs in order to feel justified in killing Claudius.
As always run-on sentence littered posts by me enjoy