Title: What are some conflicts in Hamlet, act 2?  - eNotes.com
Headings: What are some conflicts in
Hamlet,
act 2?

Hamlet
What are some conflicts in Hamlet, act 2?
Expert Answers
We’ll help your grades soar

Content: Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. D. Reynolds
Educator since 2016
12,999 answers
| Certified Educator
Page Citation
Share Link
In Act II, the main conflict revolves around appearance versus reality: Hamlet, still reeling from the ghost 's revelation that Claudius murdered his father, must determine what is real: is the ghost really the ghost of his father and did Claudius really kill his father? Much of the conflict in the plot revolves around Hamlet 's quest for the truth. In Act II, scene ii, the travelling players arrive at the castle, and Hamlet determines he will solve the problem of whether or not Claudius is a killer by staging a play that enacts a murder that imitates the murder the ghost described to Hamlet. On a deeper level, Hamlet's conflict with a world that seems to him false and "rotten" continues: he watches the deep emotion an actor exhibits while playing a scene and wonders that the man can feel so deeply about an illusion. In Act II Hamlet comes into conflict with Gertrude and Claudius. As Hamlet becomes increasingly erratic and "mad," Gertrude and Claudius feel increasingly confused and shut out.