ct it to the lines that follow it, they refer to the dead king. “The cess of the majesty dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw what’s near it with it” This refers to the death of the king be tragic to anyone who is connected to him. However when you look at this play almost everyone is somehow connected directly to Hamlet and is therefore dragged down also by the death of the king. The rest of Rosencrantz lines in this passage have to do with the connection of everyone to the tragedy of Hamlets madness. He compares Hamlet to a wheel and each of the spokes on the wheel to someone who is tragically affected by the fall of Hamlet. At first he makes it sound like it is just a consequence that everyone must suffer, but then he starts to say that if Hamlet falls then the results will be disastrous. The final line makes a good finish. “Never alone did the king sigh, but with a general groan. He states the king was never independent but rather he was in control of all other things. What was a sigh to him would be thought of as a disaster to the kingdom. This passage has meaning to the play as a whole for two reasons. The first of the two reasons is that he was justifying taking Hamlet to England. He felt he needed to do that because Hamlet was a friend of his. However because the king orders them they had no choice. The other reason that this passage was significant is because it was a comparison that showed how everything is connected. Hamlet is a play that is made up of a sequence of events, each one playing off of another. The original cause is the murder of the king, and his son, seeking revenge. ...
