Hamlet and Rosencrantx and Guildenstern Are Dead

In both the playwright, Hamlet, and the movie, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, there are many important characters that are vital to the storyline; however, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two characters who are both useless and unnecessary to the plot. It would almost seem as if they were stuck in the story just to make it a little bit longer. Although they are the main characters in the movie, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are interchangeable in every instance. One never learns which is which but at the same time, their identities don't really matter. The movie could have cut their parts out entirely, yet the plot would have remained the same.

Finally, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead addresses the topic of human motivation and the relationship between life and death. The play questions the

12. Hamlet is a dramatic play while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a comedy.

If one was to simply try and watch Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead without any background knowledge or familiarity of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, then my enjoy the wit and foolishness of the characters but wouldn’t understand the underlying messages. Tom Stopard’s idea of what two side characters in Hamlet do when they’re not in the main play by Shakespeare is very interesting. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead follows these two characters on their journey to questioning many of the things happening to them. Stoppard makes us question, “What if the play Hamlet is real?” The three main messages in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead are freedom, mortality, and reality.

One of the biggest qualities I thought both plays shared was the fact that they were both tragedies. In Hamlet you see throughout the play

Lastly, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead teaches the message of knowing your identity. What were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern missing, above all else? It’s not remembering the past; they could have just worried about the future. It’s not decision making; they could have gotten along fine just following someone else’s lead. It works for most people. What they were really missing was their identities. Neither Rosencrantz nor Guildenstern had fully developed a sense of self. Neither really did anything that made them distinct from the other. In essence, they were the same, and interchangeable. This was made clear throughout the duration of the play, because of several small details. When the two were greeted by people, they often got their names confused. The

In Hamlet, the plot is centered around Hamlet, the protagonist. The reader is familiar with Hamlet's thoughts and reasoning through his soliloquies and his many appearances throughout the play. On the contrary, in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet is only a foil, whose scarce appearances throughout the play only serve to emphasize the traits of the two main characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Not only is Hamlet's role in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead less significant than it is in Hamlet, but Hamlet's impression on the reader is also different. The only main similarity between the two Hamlets is that he was the cause of Rosencrantz's and Guildenstern's deaths in both

Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead written by a man named Tom Stoppard first released in 1966 with the intent of giving the readers insight on the beloved Rosencratz and Guildenstern as they progressed through their abstract life until they were invited by characters in Shakespeare's play Hamlet where they ultimately met their demise. Basically a view of the play Hamlet, but through the perspective of the comedic, quirky characters known as Rosencratz and Guildenstern. The reason for choosing this play was for one, we could not do any plays written by Shakespeare so a nice loophole is being able to write about a play that incorporated characters from a Shakespearean play, but with the intentions of being more of a comedy/tragedy than just

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to have met Hamlet at school and become quite close. However, these characters are quick to turn on their friend and work for the king. They are false friends who are sent by Gertrude and Claudius to discover what is wrong with their son. Their knowledge is superficial and their intelligence mediocre, so they are easily outwitted by Hamlet. They are fools, rather than knaves and their immoral and despicable work for the king behind Hamlet's back adds to the disorder in Denmark.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, written in the 1960s by playwright Tom Stoppard, is a transforation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Stoppard effectively relocates Shakespeare’s play to the 1960s by reassessing and revaluating the themes and characters of Hamlet and considering core values and attitudes of the 1960s- a time significantly different to that of Shakespeare. He relies on the audience’s already established knowledge of Hamlet and transforms a revenge tragedy into an Absurd drama, which shifts the focus from royalty to common man. Within Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard uses a play within a play to blur the line that defines reality, and in doing so creates confusion both onstage- with his characters, and offstage-

Hamlet is undoubtedly one of the most well-studied and remembered tragedies in all of history. Renowned for its compelling soliloquies and thought-provoking discussions about life, death, and love, the play takes a very serious look at the topics it presents. Based on this famous work is another tragedy, known as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. In this work, which is interwoven with the original, the namesake characters bumble about in the immense world, over which they have no control. Without a sense of identity or purpose, the two merely drift to and fro at the whim of the larger forces around them; namely Hamlet, who eventually leads them to death. The twin plays follow the same story and end with the same result – nine deaths.

     Two of the most odd and certainly comic people in the work of Hamlet, are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Both of these people are considered to be friends of Hamlet by the Queen when in actuality they are not at all. Irony being another form of humor takes roll with these two as they are sent with a death warrant for Hamlet while Hamlet some how knows this he replaces the warrant with one for the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They call the play of Hamlet “the tragedy of multiplicity'; for a good reason considering the state of friendship that also changes very often.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, are contrasting plays with a variety of similarities. Shakespeare’s Hamlet was written between the years 1599 to 1602 and is a play about tragedy set in the Kingdom of Denmark. Hamlet is about the young prince of Denmark, Hamlet, seeking revenge against his uncle, Claudius, for succeeding the throne after murdering his father, King Hamlet, and immediately marrying his widowed mother, Gertrude. Shakespeare heavily portrays young Hamlet’s madness in the play, and Gertrude and Claudius seek help from two minor characters and friends of Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to reveal the root of Hamlet’s madness, issues, and change of personality. In Hamlet’s plot, there are many deaths, including those of Hamlet’s dearest friends, and Hamlet is at fault for all of the deaths. Over 360 years later, Tom Stoppard decided to take the minor characters in Hamlet and create the plot in the perspective of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was written in 1964 and addresses the issues and confusion they dealt with in Hamlet in their standpoint in Stoppard’s play, which was performed in 1966 (“Hamlet”). In Stoppard’s play’s plot, he challenges the audience and the readers to use background information from Hamlet in order for the audience to fully grasp and understand the absurdity of

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a story praised for its unique perspective and use of the two most minor characters from The Tragedy of Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's aim to be more than plot devices or support is both admirable and relatable. After all, no one wants to feel insignificant. However, I find it difficult and mostly impossible for a character to defy a "creator's" will. Whether it be the spite of a Greek god or the desires of a playwright, the fate of characters hardly ever alter. One might wonder if there is a point to their efforts or if they should just find contentment and let life happen. To better understand this thesis, I would like to bring attention to themes of Greek tragedy and how it simulates the themes in this story yet diverges enough to offer a defense for the protagonists' reactions.

The tragic play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” by Stoppard were retold from the story of Shakespeare famous play “Hamlet”. The two insignificant characters in “Hamlet” became the protagonists in Stoppard’s play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” and Hamlet as a minor character. The author’s different perspective of Shakespeare’s two minor characters made the audience realize that being control like a puppet by Hamlet might have led them to their death. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s presence effected the two protagonists’ life.