Hamlet

Act 2, Sc. 2, Lines 224-244: How does the mood of the conversation change after Line 241? Explain.

[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]

Polonius. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet. There he is.

Rosencrantz. God save you, sir.

[Exit Polonius]

Guildenstern. My honoured lord.

Rosencrantz. My most dear lord.

Hamlet. My excellent good friends. How dost thou,

Guildenstern? Ah Rosencrantz. Good lads, how do you both?

Rosencrantz. As the indifferent children of the earth.

Guildenstern. Happy in that we are not over-happy: on

Fortune's cap we are not the very button.

Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoes?

Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord.

Hamlet. Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favours?

Guildenstern. Faith, her privates we.

Hamlet. In the secret parts of Fortune? Oh most true, she

is a strumpet. What news?

(LINE 241) Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but the world's grown honest.

Hamlet. Then is doomsday near. But your news is not true.

Let me question more in particular. What have you, my

good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune that she sends

you to prison hither?

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Last updated by jill d #170087
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After Line 241, the almost light-hearted banter on Hamlet's part becomes ominous.

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Hamlet