Jul 25, 2008

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...