ROSENCRANTZ Both your majesties
Might by the sovereign power you have of us
Put your dread pleasures more into command
Than to entreaty.
GUILDENSTERN But we both obey
And here give up ourselves in the full bent
To lay our service freely at your feet
To be commanded.
CLAUDIUS Thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern.
GERTRUDE Thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz.
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too much changed son. Go some of you
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. (2.2.26-37)
The boys are very proper, very obsequious: both your majesties might by the sovereign power you have of us put your dread pleasures more into command than to entreaty. We are your servants! You didn’t need to ask us nicely; we are bound to obey! You’re the bosses here. Guildenstern’s cannier, perhaps, no, we really really want to do this, it’s not just obeying orders; we both obey and here give up ourselves in the full bent to lay our service freely at your feet to be commanded. We can’t think of anything we’d rather do, than undertake this on your behalf. What a privilege! What a pleasure! Claudius can be amused by this grovelling: thanks, Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern, and there’s a standard laugh at his expense when—as seems likely—he gets them muddled up and has to be corrected by Gertrude: thanks, Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz. But they’re never really differentiated (an interesting challenge for actors?) and to have this slightly cartoonish double-act reasonably central to the plot, mostly surface, little depth, is an intriguing move in a play which is so invested in complexity, withholding, and mixed motives. Claudius is pleased that he can get on to the next thing; Gertrude’s relieved that there might be some way forward with her deeply troubled and troubling son; she wants, begs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to go to him straight away. I beseech you instantly to visit my too much changed son. (Room for an apprehensive glance between them: what are they walking into? what have they signed up for?) It’s too late; they’re sent off with a servant: go some of you and bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. No breathing space, and the play rolls on.