Hamlet - Act 2, Scene 2 Study Questions

1. He has sent for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
2. He wants to use their old friendship so they can get close to Hamlet and find out what's making him mad.
3. Old Norway didn't know what Fortinbras was doing. He stopped Fortinbras and gave him 3000 crowns and an army to attack Poland instead of Denmark.
4. To allow Fortinbras's army safe passage through Denmark on his way to Poland.
5. His speech is not brief, and he always talks a lot. He's being played as a sort of fool. He talks to make himself sound smarter, but actually sounds dumber.
6. That Ophelia should go to Hamlet when Hamlet is walking, while Claudius and Polonius spy on them to see how Hamlet acts toward her.
7. He's prostituting Ophelia for his own reason. He wants her to marry Hamlet so he can become closer to the throne.
8. He says that madness gets the point across where sanity wouldn't do as well.
9. He feels trapped there because of his uncle. He can't really take joy in anything because he's a pessimistic baby who views the whole world as a prison.
10. He says he's depressed because he can't take joy in anything.
11. There's been an uprising of a certain type of theatre that the players are not part of, so they're forced to go on the road.
12. He asks them why they were sent for, which lets them know that he's aware they aren't there of their own volition.
13. Jephtha is a man in the Bible who kills his daughter for political power, which is what Polonius is metaphorically doing with Ophelia.
14. He is like Pyrrhus because they are both vengeful because their fathers were murdered, they're both wearing black, they both use deceit and trickery to get back at their fathers' murderers, and they both think Fortune is a strumpet. They are unalike because Hamlet is vengeful toward his uncle whereas Pyrrhus is vengeful toward the Trojan king, Pyrrhus is in a war while Hamlet it not, and Pyrrhus is taking action while Hamlet is just talking.
15. Does he know, "The Murder of Gonzago", and can Hamlet put some extra lines in there.
16. He says it because he's comparing himself to the players, and how they're acting when he can't even though he loves it so much. He's referring back to the "shadows of the beggars" speech he made before.
17. To spy on Claudius using the play by seeing what his reaction is.
18. He feels this way because nobody will believe Claudius is guilty unless there's evidence.
19. Polonius spies on Laertes with the help of Reynaldo, Polonius and Claudius spy on Hamlet using Ophelia, Hamlet is spying on Claudius using the actors, and the king and queen spy on Hamlet using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
20. Despondent, he talks a lot but he doesn't do anything about it, makes excuses about why he won't take action, clever and smart, morbid, indecisive, passionate about acting, angry, insulting to Polonius/Claudius/Gertrude/Ophelia (sort of rude), jealous, obsessive, and antisocial.