Question

literature
education is freedom!
act 2, scene 2, lines 391-634: reading guide (part 3)
directions:

• answer each question in full sentences with a partial quote.
• in each scene, mark with a post-it or annotate at least 2 significant moments and explain why they are significant.

1. in lines 475-544, hamlet and the first player recite lines from a play. this play tells how pyrrhus slays the trojan king priam to avenge his fathers murder. how is hamlet like pyrrhus? how is he unlike pyrrhus?

2 *in lines 561-574, what two questions does hamlet ask the first player?

1. **what causes hamlet to exclaim, \o, what a rogue and peasant slave am i\ (2.2.577)?

Explanation:

1. Hamlet is like Pyrrhus because both are driven by a desire to avenge their fathers' murders; Hamlet says, "I have that within which passes show" (1.2.85), revealing his suppressed urge for revenge, just as Pyrrhus acts on his rage. He is unlike Pyrrhus because Pyrrhus acts with unthinking, violent fury—"The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast" (2.2.477)—while Hamlet overthinks and delays his revenge, struggling with doubt and morality instead of acting impulsively.
2. First, Hamlet asks the First Player if he can perform a specific speech about the fall of Troy and the death of Priam, saying, "Can you play the Murder of Gonzago?" (2.2.561). Second, he asks if the Player can add a short speech he will write, stating, "I have a speech of some dozen lines... which you shall say" (2.2.572-573).
3. Hamlet exclaims this after watching the First Player deliver a passionate speech about Hecuba's grief, and he is overwhelmed by his own inaction. He laments that the Player can feel such intense emotion for a fictional character, while he, who has a real father to avenge, has done nothing, saying, "Yet I, / A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, / Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause" (2.2.583-585).

Answer:

1. Hamlet is like Pyrrhus in that both seek revenge for their fathers' deaths; he is unlike Pyrrhus because Pyrrhus acts with unbridled violence, while Hamlet delays due to moral doubt and overthinking, as seen in his line "I have that within which passes show" (1.2.85) and the description of Pyrrhus as "the Hyrcanian beast" (2.2.477).
2. 1) Hamlet asks, "Can you play the Murder of Gonzago?" (2.2.561) 2) He asks, "I have a speech of some dozen lines... which you shall say" (2.2.572-573), requesting the Player add a custom speech.
3. Hamlet exclaims this after witnessing the First Player's intense, emotional performance about Hecuba's sorrow, and he is ashamed of his own failure to act on his father's murder, as expressed in "A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, / Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause" (2.2.583-585).