Analysis of Play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in Shakespearean Tragedy, Hamlet - Book Report/Review Example

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Introduction Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play that deals with the Theater of the Absurd, Brechtian alienation techniques, and the nature of human existence. It is connected to the Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet, which is essential in understanding Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, as the play is relayed from the perspective of two characters from this famous tragedy. Indeed, Tom Stoppard incorporates actual scenes from Hamlet in the play in helping communicate the knowledge gained by the two men. Although the play is not readily identified with the mystery or detective genre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead confronts the mystery of the two mens own identity and humanity to illuminate the theme that one must be true to oneself to have self-worth, and to reveal the absurdity of the human condition. Analysis Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters in Hamlet and their identities are not well developed. Stoppard only furthers this notion of the men not being true individuals. Throughout the play the seemingly inexplicable events they participate in are thematically developed by Stoppard to illustrate this underlining confusion and absurdity. In the beginning of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are walking for no apparent reason and do not know where they are going until they realize that the King has sent for them. This confusion about their position in the world and the outside events affecting their lives is continued through the play until the very end when meet their demise on the boat. The coin game at the beginning of the play illustrates their confusion with the natural forces of the universe and establishes the theme of philosophical investigation and incomprehensibility that occurs throughout the play. The coins come to represent a number of things. As the two men flip the coin and it constantly lands on heads the occurrence comes to represent the incomprehensibility of the universe. The men watch the coin in wonder and question if the laws of nature have stopped working. Guildenstern states, time has stopped dead, and the single experience of one coin being spun once has been repeated ninety times...Three: divine intervention, that is to say, a good turn from above concerning him, cf. children of Israel, or retribution from above concerning me, cf. Lots wife. Four: a spectacular vindication of the principle that each individual coin spun individually...is as likely to come down heads as tails and therefore should cause no surprise each individual time it does (Stoppard, Act I). This philosophic questioning of the physical nature of reality underlines the two men’s perplexity with their environment. Just as they are unable to affect the outcome of the coin, so do they believe that they cannot plausibly affect the reality of their situation. They are constantly perplexed by the deterministic (or non-deterministic) nature of outward events, from Hamlet’s demeanor, to their incident on the ship, to the very reason they are around, they are unable to make sense of existence. The dual nature of the coin also plays into the thematic structure of the play, as the two-sided coin an oppositional element just as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern themselves are. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first appear in the castle they witness an encounter Hamlet has with Ophelia and look on in consternation. Next they encounter Claudius and Gertrude. Speaking lines from the original Hamlet, Claudius confuses the two men and then tells them to spy on Hamlet and they do as they are told. The two men are willing to spy on their own friend without hesitation and are unable to make their own decisions, keeping them from realizing their true individuality. After Claudius and Gertrude exit the two men attempt to make sense of their situation and begin questioning each other. In one line Guildenstern states, “Give us this day our daily mask.” The line is taken from the Lord’s Prayer, however the ending is changed. Throughout the play Stoppard cyclically includes variations on this prayer. It seems that part of the thematic reliance on this play is related to the nature of the play as utilizing exact scenes from Shakespeare; just as the variation in the Lord’s Prayer is sacrilegious, in a sense so is the incorporation and alteration of Hamlet. In this regard, Stoppard is self-reflexively referencing the nature of his play through a Brechtian alienation technique. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue to attempt to make sense of their situation they begin debating the nature of Hamlet’s condition. The two men play a role playing game that furthers their identity crisis. In one game, Guildenstern pretends to be Hamlet to figure out why Hamlet is losing his mind. In another game, Guildenstern plays the King to figure out what the king wrote in the letter. It is ridiculous that the two men, who have trouble with their own identity, try to take on another’s identity. The two roles that Guildenstern takes part in further demonstrate that he has no legitimate self identity. During the two men’s questioning Rosencrantz sums up the conclusion they arrive at, “To sum up: your father, whom you love, dies, you are his heir, you come back to find that hardly was the corpse cold before his young brother popped onto his throne and into his sheets, thereby offending both legal and natural practice. Now why exactly are you behaving in this extraordinary manner? (Stoppard, Act I)” This line is an extremely humorous instant where Stoppard is actually making an ironic statement on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the nature of Claudius request. The line is essentially saying that the entire purpose Shakespeare has included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the original Hamlet is ill-conceived and when examined in fact absurd. Similar to the variation on the Lord’s Prayer, the questioning of canonical literature in this manner is heretical to the literary establishment and is implemented by Stoppard to destabilize the view of ‘literature’ as possessing all the answers to humanity’s essential questions. Instead, Stoppard is indicating that in great part literature, like religion, is just as fallible and searching as the normal human being, and humanity should take greater agency in contemplating their existence. Throughout the play, many character mistake Rosencrantz for Guildenstern and Guildenstern for Rosencrantz and the men are not offended. Even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have trouble with their identities. "Welcome, dear Rosencrantz… (he raises a hand at GUIL while ROS bows- GUIL bows late and hurriedly)… and Guildenstern" (Page 35). This example shows that the men are thought of as one. The two men are not separate entities. Both men rely on one another, to the extent that they feel lost without the other. Before the world will view them as an individual they must have confidence in themselves. While in Shakespeare’s original play this element seems to function to illustrate the buffoonery of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in Stoppard’s version the characters are developed in much greater depth and the reader comes to appreciate their idiosyncrasies and introspection more acutely. After the confusion is made in their names the two men engage in a philosophical deliberation on the incident and the incomprehensibility inherent in the occurrence stands as a microcosm for the difficulty of making sense of an absurd reality. The men are also mysteriously transformed from one destination to another. In one instance, they magically emerge in the scene with Hamlet and Ophelia and in another scene they are transported to a boat with Hamlet. Stoppard uses the absurdity of the mens random movements to show that the men do not have control of their own lives or situations. These men are puppets in the play, with no true identities; they serve no deep purpose except to advance the narrative. The mystery of the mens identity and their situation helps illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. This mystery acts as a catalyst to show that every person has to be their own individual and view themselves to be as an individual before the world will ever view them as an individual. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have no control over their world, highlighted by the improbable repetition of heads in the coin flip. They are but mere puppets throughout the play and by the end of the play, the two men disappear as if they never existed. Conclusion In conclusion, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play that explores the absurdity of human existence through the perspective of two secondary characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play explores a number of themes including the incomprehensible nature of existence, the free will versus determinism, and the religious nature of literature. While in many respects the play is difficult to comprehend, so do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern struggle with the nature of their existence, the physical nature of reality, and their self-identity (or lack thereof). Even as the play offers an homage to Hamlet, it also functions to make ironic mockery of the Shakespearean tragedy and bring into question the purpose of literature and religion. Ultimately, it seems that the lasting message Stoppard offers through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is that salvation or an answer to life’s mystery cannot be obtained through literature, but rather that existence is absurd and incomprehensible. References Stoppard, Tom. (1968) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Grove Press, Inc. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Read More