Rosencrantz & Guildenstern PART 1

PART 1: Act 2 Rosencrantz  & Guildenstern

King Claudius and Queen Gertrude call Rosencrantz  and Guildenstern in to assign them the task of finding out what is wrong with Hamlet.

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 changèd son. Go, some of you,
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.

Guildenstern:Heavens make our presence and our practices
Pleasant and helpful to him!

(2.2. 27-41)

In this scene we learn that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sycophants.  They don't even consider the moral or consequences of what they are being asked to do yet this still throw themselves at the king and queens feet saying "your dread pleasures more into command/Than to entreaty" (28-29).  Here that say that the king and queen did not need to ask them to perform this task, rather , they could have simply ordered them to get the information out of Hamlet and they would have been just as pleased to do so. They even speak on each other behalf when Guildenstern says "But we both obey/And here give up ourselves" (30-31) as if to reassure that whether they are commanded or asked, they are more than happy to serve the king and queen.  Here he acts as a sycophant because he makes very certian that nothing either of them says could be misconstrued as anything but flattery.  They are kissing up.  Guildenstern says "To lay our service freely at your feet/To be commanded."(32-33).  This is extreme groveling because he is basically saying that they wish to be commanded because the king and queen are gracing their unworthy souls by doing so.  The queen plays along saying "I beseech you instantly" (37) as if she, the most powerful woman in the kingdom, needs to ask nicely for these men to obey her.  She knows that they will do as she say but she is playing along with their overly subservient behavior. Guildenstern also says "Heavens make our presence and our practices/Pleasant and helpful to him!"(40-41).  Here he is prominently stating his excitement for the assignment he and Rosencrantz  have been given.  He says is as though his only goal is to aid Hamlet and that might be true, because they are friends, however, it is most likely just another effort to please the king and queen.