Hamlet | Act II, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
New Characters
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: longtime friends and former schoolmates of Hamlet
Voltemand and Cornelius: sent by Claudius as ambassadors to King of Norway
The Players: traveling actors hired to perform at the castle
Summary
King Claudius and Queen Gertrude receive Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, childhood friends of Hamlet, who agree to visit him and seek the cause of Hamlet’s “transformation” (line 5). Polonius enters to announce the arrival of Voltemand and Cornelius from Norway, and to say that he believes he has found the “very cause of...
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- Hamlet: Introduction
- William Shakespeare Biography
- Reading Shakespeare
- List of Characters
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- One-Page Summary
- Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 6 Summary and Analysis
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- Hamlet's Delay
- Exploring Hamlet's Hesitation
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- The Ghost: Is He Really Hamlet's Father?
- The Character of Ophelia: Why Does She Go Mad?
- To Thine Own Self Be True: An Analysis
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
- Minor Characters and the Number Three
- To See or Not to See: Fortinbras in Two Film Productions of Hamlet
- Hamlet and Macbeth: A Comparison
- The Theme of Pretense in Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Analysis of Act Five of Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Character Analysis of Horatio
- Comment on Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" Soliloquy
- Staging for Shakespeare's Hamlet: Act II, Scene ii, Lines 85-221
- The Nature of Hamlet's Character
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- Marcellus, Horatio, Hamlet, and the Ghost by Henry Fuseli
- Hamlet and Ophelia in New Theatre production (1934)
- The Ghost, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus
- Hamlet and Claudius in New Theatre production (1934)
- Horatio, Hamlet, and the Gravedigger in film adaptation (1948)
- Hamlet and Laertes in New Theatre production (1951)
- Illustration: Ghost of Hamlet's Father
- Illustration: Polonius
- Illustration: Ophelia in Act III, Scene i
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- Illustration: Hamlet instructs the Players before the performance
- Illustration: Claudius kneels in prayer
- Illustration: Hamlet thrusts his sword through the curtain
- Illustration: The Ghost
- Illustration: Gertrude and Hamlet
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- Illustration: Ophelia goes mad
- Illustration: Hamlet's letter to Horatio
- Illustration: Ophelia's flower garlands
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- Illustration: Laertes leaps into the grave
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