Act 2: Is he really mad?

Act 2 is mostly about Hamlet feigning (or is he?) madness so that he can reveal his father's murderer. We meet some new characters, R & G as well as the players. The end of this act builds towards the play within a play, where hamlet decides to "catch the conscience of the king."

Scene 1: Opens with polonius telling some random guy named Reynaldo to visit laertes and find out what hes doing with all the money that polonius sends him. reynaldo leaves and Ophelia enters. She tells polonius that hamlet is mad because he is in love with her but she does not respond in kind. he showed up to her dressed all crazy and all she can think is that he is madly in love with her. Polonius hears this, and runs straight to the king and queen.

Scene 2: We are introduced to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, from now on referred to as R&G, who's job it is to hang with hamlet and discover the cause of his insanity. polonius comes in and after R&G leave, tells the king and queen about hamlet's unrequited love. polonius feels bad about it, and tells them that to check if it is true we will use ophelia to spy on hamlet. the three leave, and hamlet and R&G enter. they tell hamlet about the happenings outside the castle, and they meet the players. hamlet decides to have them perform a play that was much like the death of his father so that the king will reveal his guilt through his response to the play.

Reflection: The long passage at the end of the act says a lot about hamlet, and reveals many of the issues that he will have to deal with throughtout the rest of the play. He talks about how "[I] unpack my heart with words," rather than taking action. we will see him do this again towards the end of Act 3, and he will pose reasons for his delay of action in the beginning of Act 3 in the to be or not to be speech. This Act builds towards the play within a play scene, which causes all the consequences that occur in the final 2 acts. It is a crucual act where we see the facade that Hamlet puts up to fool the other characters, as well as his inner feelings towards his actions.