Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's arrival at Elsinore represents the duplicity of Claudius and even Gertrude to a certain extent. They have been sent for as a means for the King and Queen to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. While it can be stated that the Queen has genuine concern for her son, King Claudius is just worried about how Hamlet 's behavior is going to affect his reign as king. That they would call up two friends of Hamlet's, butter them up by telling them that they are Hamlet's closest childhood friends and with a promise of "a king's remembrance" (meaning money), the King and Queen have brought in two people whose loyalty is first to Claudius and second to Hamlet. Hamlet can't trust these two, and he figures that out pretty quickly. It is such a sad scene when he at first asks them if they were...
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sent for and eventually pleads with them to tell the truth. They only do so when they realize they have no choice. These characters are representative of how isolated Hamlet is and how wary he must be to preserve himself in this dangerous place.
The Players provide a means for Hamlet to "catch the conscience of the King." By enacting a play that is altered enough to mimic the poisoning of King Hamlet, Hamlet hopes that Claudius will react in a guilt-revealing way and then Hamlet will be completely justified to enact his revenge. Hamlet's interations with them also reveal another side of Hamlet is familiar with the theatre and who appreciates fine acting -- something that is trying to accomplish with his acting crazy around the castle.
The grave-diggers provide some comic relief at the start of Act 5, but they also provide an opportunity for Hamlet to come face to face with death. He comes to realize that death is the great equalizer and will come to everyone. The more real death is for Hamlet, the less he fears it and all of his actions. Facing death makes him more ready to take the actions that he must in order to fulfill the revenge request from his father.
While these minor characters don't have a lot of interconnection, the play would be sorely lacking without them.
I will start with the players. They become important since they are the vehicle by which Hamlet is able to confirm to his own satisfaction, what he was told by the ghost. By having them reenact the murder described to him by the ghost of his father, he sees Claudius's guilt. Without their performance, Hamlet would not be certain of his uncle's guilt.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are school friends. They are being used by Claudius to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. They also provide some comic relief. It doesn't take long for Hamlet to figure out the purpose of their visit.
As for the grave diggers, they also serve as comic relief plus they also provides us with Hamlet's age.
Ingeniously, Shakespeare has used several of these characters to lighten things up.
How important are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are friends of Hamlet's from school. While they seem unimportant to the play, they are used by everyone in the play (including Shakespeare) to move along the action and the plot development.
The King and Queen invite them down to find out why Hamlet is so melancholy. Then the King orders them to take Hamlet to England so he may be killed (they, of course, know nothing of this plot), but instead meet their own untimely ends.
They are not important on the surface, but these two do serve an important purpose in the play...to help the reader/audience understand and make sense of how people get from one place to the next without making hopelessly huge leaps of faith into the drama.