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All Site ContentHamletAct 2Scene 2
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"too dear a halfpenny"
Wordplay
Act 2,
Scene 2
Line 272

An explanation Hamlet’s wordplay in his speech to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet   

a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining?

Here, Hamlet continues his deceitful wordplay. His phrase could be read one way, in the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but we in the audience can detect a different meaning:

  • I’m so poor off that my reward to you isn’t worth a halfpenny.
  • You don’t deserve even a halfpenny because I know you’re deceiving me.