rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead book

Hamlet welcomes them warmly, appreciating their visit, until he realises that they have been sent for to spy on him and report back to the king. Claudius, suspicious and afraid of the young prince whose father he has murdered, whose mother he has married and whose throne he has stolen, fearing the action that Hamlet may take against him, sends for them to spy on the young prince.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are fellow students of Hamlet at the University at Wittenberg. Claudius, thanks them with ‘Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern,’ and the queen, Gertrude follows with ‘Thanks Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz,’ emphasising their co-joined nature. And indeed, he makes this point very strongly in Act 2 Scene 2 when they share their statement of service to Claudius in a sucking-up speech, as though they were one person. There are many such men and they are all the same – indistinguishable from each other.

Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Taleĭaniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order. Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15.

Rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead book