Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Study Guide > Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Study Guide Act 2

Marshall Fundamental Secondary School ENGLISH 101 osencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Study Guide Act 2 1. What does Hamlet mean he says, “Let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to the players (which I tell you must show fairly outwards) should more appear like entertainment than yours”? - Hamlet in the s ...[Show More]

Marshall Fundamental Secondary School
ENGLISH 101
osencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Study Guide

Act 2

1. What does Hamlet mean he says, “Let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to the

players (which I tell you must show fairly outwards) should more appear like entertainment than

yours”?

- Hamlet in the statement above means to explain how he must act as if he is happy to

see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern although he is not he must show as if he is to not

mislead the other people to believe otherwise

2. Why is this statement ironic?

- The statement is ironic because Hamlet was not pleased to see Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern as he knew they were sent to spy on him while he believed they were

his “friends”

3. In this particular scene, some lines of the original text are omitted, following Hamlet’s statement,

“The great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling clouts…”

ROS: Happily he’s the second time come to them; for they say an old man is twice a

child.A

HAM: I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players; mark it -- You say right, sir: o’

Monday morning; ‘t was so indeed

Why might Stoppard have intentionally eliminated these lines?

- Stoppard may have intentionally eliminated these lines because with them in the

play the entire context may be misunderstood

4. Why is Rosencrantz’s repeated line “He murdered us,” significant?

- Rosencrantz’s repeated line is significant because he stated that Hamlet beat them at

their game/trick. As well as subtly stating that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will

eventually die.

5. How does Rosencrantz indicate that he understands Hamlet’s statement that he is “mad north

north-west; but when the wind is southerly [he] know[s] a hawk from a handsaw” literally?

- Rosencrantz indicates that he understood Hamlet’s statement when he licked his

finger and stuck it out to supposedly determine the way the wind was going

6. How would the audience explain why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern cannot determine “which

way they c[a]me in”?