Day 2

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Lesson Plan

Discussion of Thought Questions

  1. 1

    How do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern respond when the (other) characters from Hamlet appear?

    They seem discombobulated (as opposed to Shakespeare's incarnations of the characters, who play their parts with the surety of history). The two men seem like bumbling fools when compared to the king and queen, who speak in beautiful blank verse. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern say the lines Shakespeare wrote for them, but as soon as they are left to their own devices, they are unsure and terrified. In fact, the first line Rosencrantz says after the Shakespearean characters depart is "I want to go home." They don't know what they've gotten themselves into, but clearly they don't like...

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