1. Hamlet, Act 2
Scene 1

2. This takes place a few weeks after the events of Act 1 Polonius sets a spy on Laertes
Polonius sends Reynaldo to France to keep an eye on his son's behaviour.

3. Drabbing: using prostitures

4. Some takeaway quotes
‘Let him play his music’ – Polonius hopes Reynaldo will catch Laertes doing something reprehensible (wrong, shameful.)
His tactics - ‘by indirections [to] find directions out.’ – anticipate the methods used by spies for the King later on, called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as they attempt to discover what’s on Hamlet’s mind…

5. Polonius is a bumbling man
‘What was I about to say? / By the mass I was about to say something. Where did I leave?’
Staging the play
Each Hamlet director has to decide how much Polonius is portrayed as a buffoon or a tyrant.

6. Ophelia is frightened by Hamlet
Hamlet has visited Ophelia in her room with his clothes in disarray. He grabbed her wrists and stared at her. Ophelia tells her father, who is convinced that he is lovesick for her. He arranges to meet the King.

7. Food for thought…
The way Polonius deals with Ophelia, showing no interest in her feelings, reminds us of the one-sided conversation the Ghost had with Hamlet.

8. Ophelia describes Hamlet’s look as: ‘so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of Hell / To speak of horrors.’
- From these lines, we’d believe that he’d spoken to Ophelia right after seeing the ghost, but remember: it’s been a few weeks. Hamlet knows that Ophelia will immediately tell her dad, who will relay this to the King.
Question: Is Ophelia given a chance to follow her own wishes?

9. Hamlet, Act 2
Scene 2

10. Gertrude asks Hamlet's schools friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to cheer up her melancholy son.