RALPH:  You know what I love about this scene? It’s all about Hamlet, yet he doesn’t even appear onstage.

SARAH:  You mean that all we get is Ophelia’s description of his behavior.

RALPH:  That's right. The last time we saw him was in Act 1, scene 5, with the ghost.  There, he seemed inspired to take action. But he also told his friends that he may be adopting an “antic disposition” as part of his strategy to take revenge on Claudius.

SARAH:  Some time has passed — perhaps a month or more — and we’re eager to find out what action, if any, Hamlet has taken — what’s he been up to? But what we get, all we get, is a second-hand report from Ophelia.

RALPH:  In this dramatic fashion, Shakespeare arouses our curiosity. He continues to do so in the next scene, where we hear more reports of Hamlet’s deranged behavior. Only after this does Shakespeare bring Hamlet on stage again so we can judge him for ourselves, first-hand.

SARAH:  But what about Ophelia?

RALPH:  What do you mean, Sarah?

SARAH:  Ralph, you just said what you love about this scene is that it’s all about Hamlet, and we don’t even see him.  But it’s not just all about Hamlet — Ophelia’s been frightened out of her wits.  Don’t you wonder what she’s thinking? Is she upset that her father ordered her to refuse to see Hamlet? Is she perhaps resentful that he seems more concerned with Hamlet than with his own daughter’s emotional state?  Does she even love Hamlet any more?

RALPH:  You’re right, Sarah — Polonius doesn’t seem to realize that his daughter’s in a fragile state — he  just wants to run off and tell the King.  Ophelia’s own feelings here are eclipsed by all the excitement that Hamlet’s appearance has produced.

SARAH:  We’ll have to work hard to determine what’s going on in Ophelia’s head — and it’s likely that if Hamlet wants to know what she’s thinking, he’ll have to work for it as well.

RALPH:  You know Sarah, I just remembered something that was bothering me earlier when we were talking about Hamlet’s “antic disposition.” In the original Danish legend that served as one of Shakespeare’s sources, Hamlet is a young boy when his father is murdered, and he has to wait until he grows up to take his revenge. But in the legend, the murder was public knowledge, and it was therefore obvious that the young prince could eventually pose a threat to the king.  So the idea to act as if he’d gone crazy was logical, so that the King would consider him harmless and not try to kill him off as well.

SARAH:  I think I know where you’re heading, Ralph. Shakespeare has changed the plot in his version of the story, so that King Hamlet’s murder is a secret.  Therefore Claudius has no reason to suspect that Hamlet knows anything about the crime. So there's no longer any clear reason for Hamlet to pretend to be mad, since Claudius has no reason to see him as a potential threat.

RALPH:  If anything, it's just the opposite: by acting strangely, Hamlet draws attention to himself and might make Claudius suspect that he knows something about the crime. What do you think, Sarah, did Shakespeare not think this through well enough, or is there some other reason why Hamlet’s strategy makes sense? Or is Hamlet not entirely faking it — is he actually having a kind of mental breakdown?  After all, we’ve already seen him as near suicidal, even before his scene with his father’s ghost.

SARAH:  An excellent question, Ralph — we'll have leave that for our viewers to decide.  But we should also remember that Hamlet’s madness has a dramatic appeal that extends beyond the motivation of the plot. It makes Hamlet’s character more comically entertaining, and it provides a great opportunity for the lead actor of the company.

RALPH:  So, as usual, we’re leaving you with lots of unresolved questions.  First, how do we make sense of Hamlet’s strange behavior?  Is this part of his “antic disposition”, and therefore strategic on his part, or did Ophelia witness Hamlet’s real emotional state?

SARAH:  And if indeed Hamlet is only pretending to be distraught, what is his plan, and how does acting mad fit into those plans?

RALPH:  Then, is Shakespeare intending for us to make assumptions about Hamlet’s state, just as Polonius is doing, or are we supposed to be confused by what’s he doing?

SARAH:  And what about the idea of a parallel between Hamlet’s appearance and the appearance of the ghost — why would Shakespeare want there to be a similarity between Hamlet and the ghost? What would such a similarity mean?

RALPH:  And finally, what about Ophelia? What’s she thinking about all of this, and what can she do about it?  I mean, she’s stuck. She has to do what her father tells her —

SARAH:  Well, no, Ralph, she doesn’t.  Does Kate do what her father tells her to in The Taming of the Shrew? Does Juliet do what her father tells her to in Romeo and Juliet?

RALPH:  Well, no, Juliet sure didn’t, and you see where that got her!  Anyway, the point is that Ophelia has limited choices here — she’s socially constrained to be an obedient daughter, and —

SARAH:  But she does have choices, and what she does will have enormous significance for the play.

RALPH:  Sure, sure, she does have choices... I’m not sure they’re of enormous significance for the play…

SARAH:  You know, you really are a Polonius.  I think that’s what I’ll call you from now on.  Back to you, Polonius…