Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a pair of fictional courtiers appearing in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. The two are major characters in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and W. S. Gilbert's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first appear in Act II, Scene 2, where they attempt to place themselves in the confidence of Prince Hamlet, their childhood friend. In reality, however, they serve as spies for King Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, who usurped the throne, murder Hamlet's father, and married Hamlet's mother. Hamlet sees through their guise, however.

When Hamlet kills Polonius, Claudius recruits Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to escort Hamlet to England, providing them with a letter for the King of England instructing him to have Hamlet killed. Along the journey, the distrustful Hamlet finds and rewrites the letter instructing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to be killed instead. When their ship is attacked by pirates, Hamlet returns to Denmark, leaving Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to go to their deaths. Ambassadors returning later report that "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, they serve as protagonists. However, they are essentially helpless, confused by the events of Hamlet and unaware of their role in the larger drama. The play is primarily a comedy, but they often stumble upon deep philosophical truths through their nonsensical ramblings. The characters depart from their epiphanies as quickly as they come to them.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in "We Haven't Got There Yet"
In 1606, William Shakespeare was appalled to learn that a group of actors were performing a play featuring his creations Ronsencrantz and Guildenstern. The two characters mentioned in the title were characters in Shakespeare's own Hamlet. Shakespeare attended the first performance, and, while very puzzled by the style of the play, he nonetheless warmed to it. He was particiularly amused by how both men seemed interchangeable and inert. As the play went on, he came to unerstand just how little he'd developed the characters, and that perhaps was in and of itself a tragic thing.