Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Gertrude) refer to them frequently by the wrong names. Because of the play's similarity to "Waiting for Godot", Rosencrantz is sometimes compared to Estragon (one of the tramps who wait for Godot), and who shares his dim perception of reality, while Guildenstern parallels Vladimir, who shares his analytical perception. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet". They are childhood friends of Hamlet, summoned by King Claudius to distract the prince from his apparent madness and if possible to ascertain the cause of it. The characters were revived in W. S. Gilbert's satire, "Rosencrantz and
Sam Beckett Sam Beckett Dr. Samuel "Sam" Beckett is a fictional character and the protagonist on the science fiction television series "Quantum Leap", played by Scott Bakula. Initially, the audience knows very little about Sam, much as Sam knows little about himself due to holes in his memory dubbed the "Swiss cheese effect." Sam Beckett was born at 12:30 pm EST on August 8, 1953, in Elk Ridge, Indiana to dairy farmer John Samuel Beckett and his wife Thelma Louise Beckett. As a child, he had two cats, named Donner and Blitzen, but never had a dog. Sam was a child prodigy,