Reading Between The Lines: The Hidden Meaning Within Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

In addition to the pain Hamlet and John had endured because of their mothers, they both had to overcome the people who intended to use them. For Hamlet this meant suppressing information from the bothersome Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Upon the king’s request these two friends of Hamlet are sent off in an attempt to relieve Hamlet’s sorrow. However Hamlet soon discovers that they have alternative motives. They are strictly set out to discover the cause for Hamlet’s depression and madness, and don’t even attempt to enlighten his spirits.

Because they did not heed to the warning, they subsequently arranged their own downfall.  The incident with the coin flips, in turn cause the reader not to sympathize with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the conclusion of the narrative.  Other reasons the reader may not sympathize is because of the characters' unfaithfulness to their friend Hamlet.  This is another way the coin flips tie into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's downfall.   From the principles of probability, one would expect for heads to turn up in so many amount of coin flips fifty percent of the time.   The fact that it did not signifies the event's unfaithfulness to the rules of probability.  This reflects Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's unloyalty to Hamlet.  They were like fools to ignore the event that was as conspicuous as a red light.  Consequently, they died a fool's death.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also sow the seeds of their own destruction by betraying their lifelong friend. From their point of view of course, they are being loyal to the king. They are faithful, obedient subjects, merely doing services to their king, trying to find out the reason for Hamlet’s madness. To Hamlet however, their willingness to do the King’s bidding is just more evidence of the corruption of the court. He urges them to treat him as a friend, to be loyal to him, to tell him the truth-;’were you not sent for?’ They eventually and reluctantly agree that they were sent for. But this is not the last of it. They continue to do the King’s bidding,

     Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two of Hamlets childhood buddies who when asked by the king, try to find out what is troubling their friend. The two of them go to Hamlet pretending to be his friends, when in all actuality they are only there because the king asked them to find the truth. Hamlet realizes their purpose for their visit is to find the real reason for his sadness as of late. As the play continues the twins are asked again by the king to go to Hamlet and try again to find the real reason for Hamlets behavior. Hamlet insults them at every chance knowing they are lying to him about their purpose of the visit. "Tis as easy as lying; govern these

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are foils to Hamlet. The two are introduced as friends to Hamlet. But also they are like messengers for the king. Hamlet learns of their

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent for by the King and Queen to spy on Hamlet and learn why he "puts on

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are comic reliefs by acting as the fool in the play Hamlet. The duo’s ignorant nature are picked at by Hamlet’s sharp toungue through the play, intensifying it’s ultimate tragic nature. One example is in act two scene two of Hamlet, when Hamlet is questioning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about the reason they are at the castle. Hamlet offsets Humor in these scenes by his choice of words. Hamlet puts the pressure on the duo and Rosencrantz in an aside to Guildenstern asks what excuse they should make to Hamlet while the whole time Hamlet is aware of their conversation. “(to Guildenstern) What

In the end, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are naively loyal to Hamlet, and this becomes their downfall. They know that Hamlet has killed Polonius, and yet, they take no precautions as they accompany Hamlet to England. Their trust in both Claudius and Hamlet gets them killed. Hamlet’s reveals his mistrust of his schoolmates in a conversation with his mother, and refers to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as, "...my two-school fellows, whom I will trust as adders fanged..." 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were ordered by Claudius to find out where Hamlet put Polonius’ body. However, they have learned nothing because Hamlet was not willing to give them an answer. Instead, Hamlet mocked them by calling them

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

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were two characters in the play who were justly punished. These two were supposed to be friends of Hamlet. They turned on him with one simple request from the King. I feel no remorse for them after Hamlet's little scheme. I find it ironic and reflective of their ending when the Ambassador comes and says, ."..Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Where should we have our thanks?" (5,2,411-12) This is somewhat humorous because

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-

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the players have a few subtle interactions in which the idea of fate is addressed strongly. Late in the play Guildenstern gets extremely angry at the players saying, “I 'm talking about death---and you 've never experienced that. And you cannot act it. You die a thousand casual deaths---with none of that intensity which squeezes out life” (123). Here Guildenstern not only implies that to have such knowledge of death he must have already experienced it himself, but he gets outraged over the fact death is not something that is acted, it is something that happens tragically, even accidentally with no way of truly knowing how to act such a thing. He proposes that death, and arguably the life before it must be at the

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.

“To be or not to be – that is the question…” (III, I, 56-) so starts Hamlet’s most famous and well-known soliloquy. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, written in the very late 1500’s, the audience is introduced to two “comical” characters at the beginning of the play; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. These two characters, clearly, had no clue of what is going on throughout the play; in addition, they followed orders without questioning them. Therefore, their role in the play was not clear. Ultimately, their role in the play was to support, as well as spy, on Hamlet, hence them taking orders from greater characters like Claudius. However, the comic duo serves a deeper purpose than just assisting their old childhood friend. Arguably, their role in the play is also to forecast ideas, bring out character traits to help readers understand them more, and come up with solutions to some of the questions that the play has left the readers to deal with. They are capable of accomplishing that due to their disloyal behaviors towards other characters.