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The Ghost
A pair of Hamlet’s old school friends whom Claudius summons to Elsinore in order to help determine the source of Hamlet’s madness. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern admit to Hamlet’s suspicions that they were recruited by the king and queen to spy on him, Hamlet accuses them of being “sponge[s]” who let themselves be taken advantage of by doing Claudius’s dirty work. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are killed after Hamlet learns that Claudius is trying to have him executed, and forges a letter in Claudius’s handwriting ordering the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Quotes in Hamlet
The Hamlet quotes below are all either spoken by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or refer to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 2
Quotes
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
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O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
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What a piece of work is a man, how noble in
reason, how infinite in faculties, in form, in moving
how express and admirable; in action how like
an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the
beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and
yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
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Act 3, Scene 2
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Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery… ’Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Quotes in Hamlet
The Hamlet quotes below are all either spoken by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or refer to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 2
Quotes
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in
reason, how infinite in faculties, in form, in moving
how express and admirable; in action how like
an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the
beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and
yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
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Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 2
Quotes
Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery… ’Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.
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