Rosencrantz's Misinterpretation Of Hamlet

Rosencrantz’s blatant misinterpretation of Hamlet’s soliloquy parallels Shakespeare’s confronting of and struggle to accept the inevitable misinterpretation of his works. Now that it has been established that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do play the role of the audience for the time they are alive in Hamlet, it is important to note that their treatment of Hamlet’s behavior reflects that of Shakespeare’s expectation of the audience's’ perception. Harold R. Walley notes that the characterization of Hamlet’s madness differs greatly from his treatment of insanity in other works. Largely characterized through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as well as Claudius’ lack of understanding, Hamlet’s absurdity appears more lucid than Poor Tom’s from King Lear, less unfocused than a drugged Titania’s from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and less panicked than Ophelia’s later in Hamlet. …show more content…
Only through careful interpretation of the connotation, denotation, and allusions of Hamlet’s speech does his meaning come to light, but to a first-time audience hearing his monologues briefly the words do appear to be nonsense. When Hamlet suddenly insists that Rosencrantz “do not believe it”, Rosencrantz logically responds according to the audience’s lack of understanding asking “believe what?”, to which the answer is “that I can keep your counsel and not mine/ own” (Shakespeare 4.2.9-11). Rosencrantz’s failure to fully grasp the complexity of Hamlet’s speech is microcosmic for the audience’s general lack of understanding of all the nuances of Shakespeare’s writings. While scholars and annotators review the script and have the luxury of re-reading and cross-referencing, theatergoers do