10 points for best answer--what makes rosencrantz and guildenstern funny in Hamlet?

Question

if you could tell me which scenes that would be great
im doing an essay on rosencrantz and guildenstern and thought i'd throw in why they were funny but now im finding it hard to find proofs of it

Answer 1

they aren't really funny in the play (they are hysterical in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead")...the funniest instance might be when the king and queen confuse which one is which...also the scene where they are questioning Hamlet and he outwits them...they aren't really funny in the play, but rather the butt of the jokes

Answer 2

If it's funny, it's a black comedy. Claudius sends Hamlet on a ship to England to get him away from Denmark after Hamlet kills Polonius. Hamlet carries a sealed letter from Claudius to the king of England. The letter reads, "Kill the bearer of this letter." Hamlet's ship is captured by pirates, Hamlet is enrolled in the pirate company, and Rosencrantz and Gildenstern go on to England. They deliver the letter to the king of England, who kills the bearers of the letter. Later in the play, messengers appear in Denmark from England to announce, "Gildenstern and Rosencrantz are dead." That message is supposed to please the king of Denmark.

For the rest of the joke, you will have to Google a recent play onstage in New York called, "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead."

Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are supposed to be typical Jewish names. So Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Jews (?)