Hamlet by Shakespeare?

Question

At the end of Act 3, Scene 4, Hamlet talks about how he will go to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Do you think he trusts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

Answer 1

Of course not. That's why he came back. They were his friends, but he knew that they were hired by his stepfather/uncle to just get information from him to see if he was really crazy or not.

ps. You should read "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" by Tom Stoppard. It's a hilarious play.

Answer 2

No, I don't think he trusts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But I don't think he believes they intend (or are even capable of) betrayal. He knows that Claudius called on them to, basically, spy on him under the guise of friendship. Consider Act 2, scene 2 where Hamlet makes asides about them ("Nay then I have an eye of you") and later in Act 3, scene 2, where he goads them - or at least intentionally gives them confusing, off-point answers to confirm his supposed insanity. However, when Hamlet tells Horatio (his true friend with whom he is honest) how he returned from England and how he discovered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's letter commissioning his death, he seemed to express surprise ("O royal knavery"). So he had them killed.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Answer 3

he does not trust his so called friends. we might be suspicious of this in earlier scenes when they first meet him that he might not have sussed their plan but in this scene his last speech is enough to show that he does not believe them , he precisely says, "and my two school fellos whom i will trust as i will adders fanged" by calling them snake he clearly depicts his mistrust. we furthur come to know of his mistrust by his blunt acceptance that he knows they are sceming against him with the order of king, "they bear the mandate, they must sweep my way and marshal me to knavery" the whole speech is full of refences that show his mistrust because he already knows of their plans and he also hints upon his own plan to defeat them in their own trick . read this speach carefully and you will find your answer. another point is that if you will read it a little before the end of scene you will find hamlet in coonfessional mood after taking out all his anger on his mother and later finding assurance from his father's ghost that she is innocent he is ready to share his plans with her so we cannot say that he is trying to fool her somehow because for the first time he knows that she is on his side. also later events will also reveal that he never trusted his fellows.