This scene opens with the arrival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, both of whom are Hamlet's friends from Whittenberg. The King and Queen, concerned about Hamlet's lunatic behavior, send the pair to spy on him. Polonius then enters, announcing the return of Voltimand, an ambassador to Norway, who brings news of its aged king. Voltimand begins his tale. The Norwegian king rebuked Fortinbras for attempting to attack Denmark. However, when Fortinbras vowed to never again attack Denmark, the king gave Fortinbras a grand sum of money and urged him to attack Poland instead. Now, Fortinbras asks permission to march through Denmark to reach Poland. Relieved that Fortinbras failed in his attempt to attack Denmark, Claudius hastily announces that he will see to the business later and dismisses Voltimand. Polonius then expresses his own qualms regarding Hamlet. He ironically begins an unnecessarily grandiloquent explanation on the importance of succinctness before finally offering his own explanation for Hamlet's apparent madness: the prince is madly in love with his daughter, Ophelia. After he reads one of Hamlet's many love letters, Polonius sees Hamlet on the balcony and quickly concocts a plan. He decides to send Ophelia to talk to Hamlet. Hiding in the curtains, he, the king, and the queen, will be able to hear the couple's conversation. The King and Queen assent to this plan and exit, leaving Polonius alone with Hamlet. Polonius attempts to strike up a conversation with the latter, but the only result seems to be a display of cold irritability from Hamlet. The prince even calls Polonius a "fishmonger." Polonius leaves, observing that while some of Hamlet's responses were seemingly erratic, they were actually "pregnant" with veiled insults. (Almost done!) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern meet the unhappy Hamlet who laments his disappointments of Denmark. Hamlet then pressures his friends until they admit to have been sent as spies. Rosencrantz then mentions a theater troupe that is performing near the castle. Hamlet becomes excited and invites his friends to stay at Elsinore. In the castle, Hamlet warmly welcomes the troupe and asks a member to perform an excerpt depicting the fall of Troy and the deaths of the Trojan king and queen. Hamlet is deeply moved by the scene, and accompanies the actor to his room. Along the way, Hamlet asks if the troupe could perform The Murder of Gonzago with a few added lines by himself. The actor accepts. Hamlet then goes to a private room and begins his monologue, which will be explored in the upcoming sections.
2. Quote:
"What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free..."~Hamlet, lines 518 to 523
I really found Hamlet's monologue to be quite interesting. To me, the passage almost gives off a general air of confused bipolarity. His (perhaps) feigned madness seems to trickle into his speech as he jumps from self-pity to incredulousness to more self-pity to fearful doubt to ravenous bloodthirstiness. Anyway, I can relate to Hamlet in this excerpt as he incredulously observes the tears the actor had shed during his monologue. I'm not saying that I too wallow in self pity, but I understand where he is coming from. These lines effectively depict the internal strife Hamlet is experiencing. I also sense that Hamlet is almost tempted to express his knowledge to others from the way he broods over what would happen if the actor knew the horrific acts of Claudius.
3. Reaction to Polonius:
To me, Polonius comes off as just a petty, unworthy henchman who has delusions of grandeur. Surprisingly, instead of being ticked off as Hamlet is at Claudius's goon, I am finding myself rather enjoying his shallow complacency. I must admit I laughed at his topsy-turvy speech on the merits of conciseness. I also found his intellectual defeat at the hands of Hamlet to be quite entertaining. How can an old man be out witted by a half-crazed college student? Lastly, I loved how the actor from the movie portrayed Polonius during the actor's monologue. Trying to redeem himself after Hamlet chastises him for being philistine, Polonius vaguely says "that's good, that's good" in a desperate attempt to make himself look cultured. Nice try Polonius.
My view of Polonius:
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