Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Teaching Key Figures

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

Alfred - He is a small boy, one of the six tragedians, who is forced to play the feminine roles in drag and finds his cross-dressing very humiliating.

Ambassador - He appears in both plays at the end to announce that the orders to execute Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been carried out.

Claudius - Hamlet's uncle, he secretly murders Hamlet's father, marries Hamlet's mother, and sends for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to gather information on Hamlet.

Gertrude - In both Shakespeare's and Stoppard's plays, she is Hamlet's mother and the new wife of King...
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