Hamlet
Act 2, scene 2 – page 97
Starting w/ Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, about line 240
Read the conversation aloud.
1. The first half-page of greeting is some banter about Fortune (who is personified as a woman). How is
the dialogue both bawdy and misogynistic? (You may have to look up strumpet. And bawdy.)
2. As the conversation continues, Hamlet is trying to figure out if he can trust these two old friends. He
wants to know why they have come and what they want. Read page 99 aloud, noticing one of the most
profound truths in all of literature: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” In the
context of the dialogue, what does that mean?
3. page 101. Keep reading aloud. Hamlet is really trying to get an answer from them. Why are you here?
Were you sent for? On line 305, notice how much clearer the meaning is when you really stress the
word THAT. Read it a couple of times, and stress it. What does Hamlet mean, “THAT you must teach
me”?
4. By line 315 Hamlet has figured out that they are spies, and are not to be trusted. (Did you see how he
discerned that?) For the rest of that paragraph, Hamlet explains his mental state, including some
beautifully profound comments about humankind (“man”). (Or does he? Is this really how he feels, or
are these “actions that a man might play”?) -- Write a paraphrase of the paragraph—through line 334.