Act two made me feel like everyone was lying to everyone else. It was the set up for the future mischief, canniving and lying that brings the downfall for everyone in the end. I found it interesting that In Act 2 Scene 1 Polonius was checking up on his son because he doesn’t trust his actions. It just seems to me that Polunius is a sketchy character who is always wants to spy. I think that Polonius is a antagonist in this story. He is always stiring up trouble and in the end it leads to his death. He does cause conflict intentionally and says its because he wants to find out the truth, but I think that he likes to stir up trouble. The King also set up spys of his own when Guildenstern and Rosencrantz came because they wanted to “check up” on Hamlet, when actually they were brought to watch Hamlet and to try to figure out why he was acting so strangely. “Why, any thing, but to the purpose. You were sent for, and there is a kind of confession in your look which your modesties have not craft enough to color. I know the good king and queen have sent for you”. Hamlet knew from the beginning that people were spying on him.
Irony is the theme that fits to this situation. With all of this scheming and spying from all of these characters, the people that are being spied on know what is going on and in turn it leads to the downfall of the characters who do the spying.
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I like your analysis of Act 2, there definitely is a lot of deceit going on here. I would add that Polonius not only likes to spy on people but he also enjoys meddling in peoples lives as well.
ReplyDeleteI drew the same conclusions about Polonius--he's an instigator and that undoubtedly caused his demise. I still can't believe the amount of deception between family and close friends. Hamlet's childhood friends, of whom he grew up with, agreed to carry out a scheme to find the root of his abnormal behavior in order to impress the king--shadiness.
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