Similarities Between Rosencrantz And Guildenstern

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both spies paid by Claudius to pretend to be Hamlet’s friends. Although they are minor yet exhilarating characters, they used to bring light on the stories around them especially since the play; “Hamlet” is a tragic one. King Claudius pays these two from Wittenberg to spy on Hamlet and be friends with him to know why He started behaving weird and acting mad. Shakespeare created these characters to provide deep information about the main character, Hamlet, to Claudius and to we the audience. The news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s death came after the deaths of the royal family because they are the main characters. They are more like extras to serve as a comic relief and as stated earlier, they serve as insiders to provide us with information about Hamlet. Although news of their deaths was anticlimax but it had to come last since they were minor characters.

He was going to England and discovers a letter from King Claudius ordering for Hamlet to be killed. So he substitutes his name for theirs. Although Rosencrantz and Guildensern had no clue that it was Hamlet’s name that was in the letter demanding to be killed and he thought they knew about the letter so because of Hamlet, they ended up dying. It was totally unfair for Hamlet to have let Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die. He went overboard with this. Hamlet would have simply torn the letter instead of substituting his name with theirs. Hamlet could have given them a punishment instead of killing them after learning that they were trying to betray him. They were supposed to have been friends from childhood. Hamlet could have forgiven them, punished them or even could have sent them on exile if he would feel punishment is not