Act 1 Scene 2 Questions

1. What is odd about Hamlet’s appearance in the opening of scene two?

He is dressed in all black like as if he were going to a funeral. He is also upset with his mother for marrying his uncle and not seeming to show much remorse for having just lost her husband/the king.

2. Explain (give at least two reasons) why Claudius needs to justify his marriage in the opening of scene two.

He didn’t allow much time for his brother’s passing to settle in before he swooped in and married his sister in law. Which could upset people, especially Hamlet, considering he is now the King. Which is the other reason he needs to justify it, to let his people know why he did what he did so they can understand.

3. Laertes asks the King for leave to do what, specifically?

He came back to see the coronation of the King but now he wants to go to France to continue his education. (I think, it doesn’t really say here, but we do find out later that he was goofing off with the ladies over in France, so that may be what your asking for)

4. Explain Hamlet’s insult when he says, “A little more than kin and less than kind.”

Hamlet is mad it his uncle/new stepfather, not only because he married his mom but because it happened so quickly. So he is saying that they are a little more then just family but Hamlet hates him and thinks he disgraces “mankind” and thinks he is less the than human. On line 140 he compares him to a satyr (half man/half goat).

5. Explain Hamlet’s use of pun in the line, “Not so my lord, I am too much in the sun.”

Hamlet doesn’t like Claudious calling him son, especially since until a short while ago he was his nephew. And he really doesn’t want to be the son of two men, since he was the son to King Hamlet now King Claudious.

6. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy it is obvious that what troubles him most is?

That his mother remarried his uncle so suddenly and she doesn’t really seem to be too compassionate or sad about his father’s death.

7. What does Hamlet mean by the following lines

“Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’.

‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath,

No, nore the fruitful river in the eye,

Nor the dejected havior of the visage,

Together will all forms, moods, shapes of grief,

That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,

For they are actions that a man might play;

But I have that within which passes show,

These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

She asks him why he unemotional state seems to be so personal to him. And he responded saying that he is basically in a lot of pain and he is wearing all black but even that is just a miniscule amount of pain he is feeling.

8. What does Hamlet say about the baked meats and the funeral and the wedding.

They served the same food from the funeral that they did at the wedding. However they served it cold at the wedding.

9. What news does Horatio, Marcellus and Barnardo bring to Hamlet.

That his father, King Hamlet, came back to them as a ghost. However he wouldn’t talk to any of the men or respond to any questions. He then disappeared when the sun rose. Hamlet decided that he would stay up that night to see if he comes back so that he can talk to him.