Hamlet Act II, scene 1: “By Indirections Find Directions Out”: Brush Up Your Shakespeare: 007

In today’s scene, we find Polonius, the King’s counselor, being sneaky and using spies to gain information. It is a habit that not only contrasts with the “wise” Polonius we have already seen in Act I, it is a practice that will eventually lead to his death.

Then his daughter, Ophelia, tells Polonius about an alarming encounter she just had with an emotionally overwrought Hamlet. Polonius believes this shows Hamlet is madly in love with his daughter, and rushes off to tell the King all about it.