Out of all the people around us, our family and friends have the capability of hurting us the most because we would drop our guard around them. Resulting in the loss of Hamlet’s trust in his family and friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s betrayal, among other people’s, forces Hamlet to act overly cautious of his surroundings when planning for his father’s revenge. This sets the play up to end in tragedy when he misses opportunities and makes mistakes. Initially, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s childhood friends, first appear, Hamlet welcomes them to the castle; however, as they continue their conversation, the childhood friends take a long time sugar-coating their intentions before telling Hamlet that they came to visit on
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While escorting him to England for school, the friends carried a letter to the English King from Claudius to kill Hamlet upon arrival. Shakespeare doesn’t note explicitly that the two ever knew what the King wrote in the letter; but, when Hamlet discovers what the contents of the letter said while the two slept, he automatically assumes that they are truly the king’s spies. Taking into consideration everything that the two have done to him up to this point, Hamlet cannot possibly believe in the greater good—that they still hold the friendship that they once had —when considering all of the recent events that led to his lack of faith in almost everybody. Thus, he feels no guilt when he switched the letter with his own, saying that the king should kill the two messengers when he receives the letter. Though dying seems too severe for what the two have done, it’s not too surprising since mindless yes-men typically don’t live for long in history as well. In a way, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are responsible for their ending since they blindly followed Claudius’ every command instead of weighing the effects of their actions. Among all of the other corruption and betrayals in the play, their tragedy seems very insignificant and miniscule. The fragile relationship between Hamlet and his childhood friends started to shatter as they went from trust to skepticism in one another until
While escorting him to England for school, the friends carried a letter to the English King from Claudius to kill Hamlet upon arrival. Shakespeare doesn’t note explicitly that the two ever knew what the King wrote in the letter; but, when Hamlet discovers what the contents of the letter said while the two slept, he automatically assumes that they are truly the king’s spies. Taking into consideration everything that the two have done to him up to this point, Hamlet cannot possibly believe in the greater good—that they still hold the friendship that they once had —when considering all of the recent events that led to his lack of faith in almost everybody. Thus, he feels no guilt when he switched the letter with his own, saying that the king should kill the two messengers when he receives the letter. Though dying seems too severe for what the two have done, it’s not too surprising since mindless yes-men typically don’t live for long in history as well. In a way, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are responsible for their ending since they blindly followed Claudius’ every command instead of weighing the effects of their actions. Among all of the other corruption and betrayals in the play, their tragedy seems very insignificant and miniscule. The fragile relationship between Hamlet and his childhood friends started to shatter as they went from trust to skepticism in one another until