| “And there put on him / What forgeries you please – marry, none so rank / As may dishonor him, take heed of that, / But, sir, such wanton, wild, and usual slips / As are companions noted and most known / To youth and liberty.” | Polonius to Reynaldo; he is saying he can make up whatever lies he wants (as long as they don’t hurt his image) about Laertes |
| “But breathe his faults so quaintly / That they may seem the taints of liberty, / The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, / A savageness in unreclaimèd blood, / Of general assault.” | Polonius to Reynaldo; his is telling him to describe Laertes’ faults so subtly that will seem like things that come with independence and the sudden urges most men have |
| “Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth; / … / … / By indirections find directions out.” | Polonius to Reynaldo; he is saying that by lying you will find out the truth |
| “Mad for thy love?” | Polonius to Ophelia; he is saying that Hamlet is crazy in love with her |
| “By heaven, it is as proper to our age / To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions / As it is common for the younger sort / To lack discretion.” | Polonius to Ophelia; he is saying it is as natural for old people to go too far with their suspicions as it is for younger people to lack good judgement |
| “This must be known, which, being kept close, might move / More grief to hide than hate to utter love.” | Polonius to Ophelia; he is saying if they hide Hamlet’s craziness it will only get worse |
| “To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather / So much as from the occasion you may glean, / Whether aught to is unknown afflicts him thus / That, opened, lies within our remedy.” | King Claudius to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; he’s asking them to spy on Hamlet and find out what’s bothering him |
| “Your visitation shall receive such thanks / As fits a king’s remembrance.” | Queen to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; the Queen is bribing them |
| “Brevity is the soul of wit” | Polonius to Queen; he is saying that it’s smart to be concise which is ironic because he’s a windbag |
| “More matter with less art.” | Queen to Polonius; she’s telling him to get to the point |
| “Doubt thou the stars are fire, / Doubt that the sun doth move, / Doubt truth to be a liar, / But never doubt I love.” | Polonius to Queen (reading a letter from Hamlet to Ophelia); Hamlet is saying you can doubt everything in this world but the fact that he loves her |
| “You are a fishmonger.” | Hamlet to Polonius; he’s basically saying that he’s selling him crap |
| “For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion – Have you a daughter?” | Hamlet to Polonius; he’s going from talking about kissing dead flesh to talking about his daughter |
| “Let her not walk i’ th’ sun. Conception is a blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to ‘t.” | Hamlet to Polonius; he’s basically saying his daughter is ‘easy’ |
| “Words, words, words.” | Hamlet to Polonius; he’s just screwing with Polonius |
| “Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit” | Hamlet to Polonius; he’s telling Polonius that he’s reading a book about lies and then goes to describe the character as Polonius (but Polonius doesn’t realize it) |
| “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.” | Polonius to himself (aside); he’s saying that sometimes Hamlet sounds crazy but sometimes he makes sense, and he’s starting to doubt a little bit |
| “How pregnant sometimes his replies are! A happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of.” | Polonius to himself (aside); he’s starting to doubt whether or not Hamlet is truly crazy |
| “These tedious old fools.” | Hamlet to himself (aside); he’s talking about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and how he knows what’s going on |
| “Let me question more in particular. What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of / Fortune that she sends you to prison hither?” | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; Hamlet is testing them by asking them why they’re here when he already knows why |
| “But, in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?” | Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; he’s testing them again |
| “O, there has been much throwing about of brains.” | Guildenstern to Hamlet; |
Hamlet Act II Quotes
September 8, 2019