Leading up to this climatic ending, Ophelia was the only one dead, besides Old Hamlet, of course. The last scene portrays the brutal deaths of 6 people within a matter of pages. Laertes and Hamlet duel. Gertrude sees Hamlet winning, so raises a toast in celebration, poisoning herself. Hamlet is then wounded and in turn wounds Laertes. Before he dies, Laertes proclaims that Claudius was responsible for setting everything up. Hamlet then turns the sword on Claudius, then falls. Right after all this, English ambassadors enter, speaking of the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet had sent replacement letters to the king of England, with orders to kill these two instead of Hamlet. That brings the total to 6 deaths, which is why the play is considered a tragedy.
Perhaps everyone "deserved" to die, though the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are debatable. These two characters do not seem to have minds of their own. They are ordered to watch Hamlet by the king, so they do. They are also Hamlet's old friends, so they continue to be so. Do they deserve to be killed for following orders? That seems a little harsh, even if they should have thought for themselves. If you look through Hamlet's point of view, however, he didn't necessarily know Rosencrantz and Guildenstern didn't know what message they were carrying. They were simply carrying out an order from the king, who would likely have told them it was to protect Hamlet. Because Hamlet knew they were transporting a death sentence, he thought he had been betrayed by his old friends. Who wouldn't be upset? However, death still seems a harsh punishment. Did they deserve to die? The world may never know...
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