p. 101, Act 2, Scene 2, lines 293-311:
"Hamlet: Beggar that I am, I am <even> poor in thanks;
but I thank you, and sure, dear friends, my thanks
are too dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for?
Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?
Come, come, deal justly with me. Come, come; nay,
speak.
Guildenstern: What should we say, my lord?
Hamlet: Anything but to th' purpose. You were sent
for, and ther is a kind of confession in your looks
which your modesties have not craft enough to
color. I know the good king and queen have sent for
you.
Rosencrantz: To what end, my lord?
Hamlet: That you must teach me. But let me conjure
you by the rights of our fellowship, by the conso-
nancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever-
preserved love, and by what more dear a better
proposer can charge you withal: be even and direct
with me whether you were sent for or no.
The King tries to be sneaky and sends who he believes are Hamlet's best and closest friends to inquire about Hamlet's well-being. The two subordinates can no nothing other than comply, and do their best to extract the needed information from Hamlet.
These two friends are just doing what they're told, and are unsuspecting pawns in the game between Hamlet and his stepparents. Hamlet suspects right off the bat why his school friends, people he has not talked to in years, have suddenly come up to him feigning great interest in any new developments in his life. They knew Hamlet in the "consonancy of [their] youth", way back when nothing bad occurred in their lives. Yes, Hamlet still has feelings for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but only "by the obligation of our ever-preserved love". Love that is everlasting, but not much in depth. The love Hamlet has for his two old friends is akin to the love one has for a dead pet- strong, but slightly forgotten.
Thus, Hamlet sees right through them and their thinly-veiled guise to get information out of him. While he expresses gratitude for their visit, saying his "thanks are too dear a halfpenny", or are quite valuable. Right afterwards, however, Hamlet questions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's motives, asking them if they "were not sent for", of their "own inclining", and whether or not "it is a free visitation". The three questions in quick succession indicate how peeved and frustrated Hamlet is that his stepparents sent his old friends to spy on him, that the royal couple do not trust him so much that they made these two innocent men their spies.
Picking Rosencrantz and Guildenstern shows how much Queen Gertrude and the King know about Hamlet and his preferences. If they had truly known Hamlet, the two would know about his current friends and habits. At the moment, they assume that Hamlet's school friends are still his best and closest, as opposed to anyone he may have met in the many years after graduation. This also carries over into how the royal couple deal with Hamlet's grief; they have no idea what's going on, so they just do what they think is right, even if it's totally different from the real Hamlet.
Your first paragraph needs more to it. The rest are very in depth. Some phrases you analyze I perceived as sarcasm. I like how deeply you analyze everything it's very thorough. There is a lot of thought put into this. Your content is great!
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot of great ideas here, but I'd love to see more argument. There's a lot of summarizing and not a lot of "so what?", which would really drive home this piece. Good stuff so far, though!
ReplyDelete