HAMLET ACT 1 Scene 2 Answers

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

He is entirely dressed in black.

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

Claudius tries to justify the marriage because of how soon it was after his brother’s funeral, some people think that you should wait longer than a month before getting married. Secondly, Claudius married his brother’s newly widowed wife and people might find that insestual.

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

Laertes said that he willingly came to Denmark to see Claudius's coronation, but wants to return.

“From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, To show my duty in your coronation, Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.”  

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

By saying that he is “little more than kin,” Hamlet is saying that he is both his uncle and his father. The second part “and less than kind” he’s saying that it was wrong for him to marry his dead brother's wife and Hamlet’s mother.  

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

Hamlet is using the word sun instead of son to sneakily imply that he does not like being his uncle's son and does not enjoy being called his son so many times.

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

Hamlet is troubled most by why his mother married his uncle so soon after his father’s death, he doesn’t think she should have ever married him and that she did not allow a proper amount of time to grieve.

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.

Hamlet says that although it looks like he is acting when he displays his grief, the real grief that he is feeling cannot be seen or faked.  

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

He said that the wedding was so soon after his father’s funeral, the leftover food was used for the wedding.

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

They brought the news about his fathers ghost that had been appearing at night in front of the night guards.