The short passages in Act 3.1 of Shakespeare's
Hamlet that concern Ros. and Guil. deal with their reporting to
Polonius and Gertrude what they were able to find out from Hamlet about why he is acting
"mad." They were able to find out nothing.
The scene
repeats the theme of acting and spying and
pretending--that's what the two friends have been doing during their interactions with
Hamlet. Pretending to be only his friends, they are acting on the king's behalf, trying
to get information out of Hamlet. Together with Polonius and Ophelia, these two try to
manipulate Hamlet and gleen information from him, while pretending to be other than what
they are.
The scene also establishes Ros. and Guil. as
instruments of futility (characterization). They may or
may not be fools, but they are unsuccessful in their spying, and later they will
certainly be treated like fools by Hamlet--payback for their trying to play
him.
Hamlet's love for art is established, possibly, in
his feeling "a kind of joy" at the news of the players' arrival. But, more importantly,
we see in his eagerness for the king and queen to see the coming performance, that he is
already thinking of his plot to catch Claudius's reaction to the play, and thereby prove
Claudius's innocence or guilt. Thus, this scene furthers the
plot.
Ironically, if the scene
creates atmosphere, it is an atmosphere of futility and
irony. Not only are Ros. and Guil. ineffectual, but so is Claudius. Though he is
powerful and capable, he has met his match in Hamlet. Not only is Hamlet's plan to
pretend to be mad working--the king is wasting an awfully lot of time trying to figure
Hamlet's madness out--but Hamlet is setting Claudius up with the "play within the
play." Claudius thinks he is playing a cat-and-mouse game with Hamlet, and he is: the
only problem for Claudius is that Hamlet is the cat.
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