Spies and Players

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GEORGE:
So right away: the scene begins with the king and queen acting like concerned parents. But it feels… staged.

SHAKESPEARE:
Because it is staged.
Mark their language: they crave a cause, a label, a tidy diagnosis — “What ails him?”
Yet their hands are already in the plot. They have hired watchers.
Concern and control wear the same cloak here.

GEORGE:
And the watchers are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — Hamlet’s old friends.
Let me ask bluntly: are they villains?

SHAKESPEARE:
They are instruments.
Not grand villains with black banners — rather men who wish to please authority and keep their place.
In a court like this, friendship becomes employment.
And employment demands a report.

GEORGE:
So Claudius says, “Spend time with Hamlet, figure out what’s wrong,” but the real job is: Find what he knows. Find what he intends.

SHAKESPEARE:
Aye.
And I make it plain: they are sent for.
They are not there by chance. They are summoned, instructed, rewarded.

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