Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two boyhood friends of Hamlet, to spy on him. When Hamlet enters, he is confronted first by Polonius and then by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he quickly identifies as Claudius's spies. A company of touring actors arrives; Hamlet persuades one of them to deliver a speech, and recognizes to his shame that the actor shows more intensity over a fictional grief than he himself has over his father's real murder. Hamlet resolves to use the players' performance of The Murder of Gonzago to test Claudius's guilt.
Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two boyhood friends of Hamlet, to spy on him. When Hamlet enters, he is confronted first by Polonius and then by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he quickly identifies as Claudius's spies. A company of touring actors arrives; Hamlet persuades one of them to deliver a speech, and recognizes to his shame that the actor shows more intensity over a fictional grief than he himself has over his father's real murder. Hamlet resolves to use the players' performance of The Murder of Gonzago to test Claudius's guilt.