Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Fate

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.

In this way, the two courtiers are nothing more than puppets for Claudius to use. Hamlet recognizes this inability to act as good friends and confronts them in the The Mousetrap scene. He discloses, “You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.” (3.2) Hamlet is cognisant of the true intentions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern which are not honest at all, but rather, corrupted. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, at this point in the play, have utterly lost their ties to Hamlet as a friend, and only see him as a puzzle that if deciphered, they can return and be praised by Claudius. According to Prof. McKinney, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are like sponges to be soaked up and drained by Claudius and discarded when they are of no more use. Claudius has manipulated the minds of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by way of desire for royal appeasement, and corrupts their ability to frankly help their childhood friend, Hamlet.

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

“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.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in Hamlet who have a more complex side to them than one might assume. Hamlet sees them as good friends who have always been there for him, such as after his father 's death when they came “to visit [him]; no other occasion” (99). Although they acted as good friends to Hamlet, in reality they were manipulative and deceitful. The two characters had a darker side because they acted as Claudius’ and Gertrude’s spies. Near the end of the play, Claudius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern

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

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the next two characters to reflect upon death. They were first introduced in the play as Hamlet's friends, but unexpectedly betray him and surface with Claudius (Act II, scene ii, 225-227). Claudius orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to advise Hamlet to England considering he arranges for Hamlet's murder (Act III, scene iii, 4-7). In his arrangement, Claudius illustrates imagery, "Arm you, I pray you,

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..." 

In the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, it starts out with the guys sitting around flipping coins, then as the story progresses they realize they were summoned by the king and decide they must go without a knowledge of what is awaiting them or what will happen along the way. “We were sent for...too late for what?...how do I know? We haven’t got there yet” (18). It is odd to think that I can be motivated by such a non-sensical play such as this, but I can relate. With the year coming to a close I had been planning on serving an LDS mission, but as they do, my plans took a sharp turn when I realized I had “foes” to conquer, now with my head spinning and real life approaching at top speed I get the same feeling I’m sure Ros and Guil felt when they got their mysterious letter. The lesson i learned is that when the guys realized they had been summoned they overcame fear with curiosity, saying they wouldn’t know what is going to happen until it happened. I can take this advice, into my own battle with my future and not be afraid of what is going to happen and be more curious about what i’m going to get to do.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are incredibly indecisive, and they just get dragged away by the currents on the river of life. They are always being told what to do and where to go, and they never question it. They never stop and think, maybe, we don’t have to do this. Unfortunately, they don’t notice this until too late. Once they knew they were doomed, Guildenstern reminisces that at some point, there had to have been a time where they could have said no; where they could have stopped all of this from happening. It didn’t matter anymore though. They were done. This play is saying that people need to take charge of their lives, and make their own decisions. Don’t just let life pass you by.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are never in control of their situations. As the beginning, Rosencrantz were flipping the coin and afterwards they meet the players. The stage suddenly took Rosencrantz

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.

There is a complementary structure between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and Hamlet in the sense that, they are written in different time periods and show different understanding on the subject at hand. In 1602, the time when Hamlet was written, people believed in church and that dead would go to heaven or hell based on their deeds , but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead was written in 1960’s a time of existentialism, when existence of god and essence of life were questioned.

It is human nature to question the meaning of life and for the individual to question their own purpose. The phrase “fate or free will” often comes up when questioning ones purpose in life. Is life predetermined and the individual has no control? Or rather can the individual take charge and choose their own path in life. Existentialists believe that humans are born first and that life is meaningless until the individual defines their own purpose. It is the belief that one's existence precedes one’s essence. In both the late 16th century play Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (a play within a play based on Hamlet) ideas of existentialism are explored. The later play builds upon the ideals developed in Hamlet and confirms that Hamlet is indeed an existential play. This is evident as the main characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are more object like than human and can therefore be considered existential objects, which then forces readers to look at Hamlet as an existential hero. This is because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exist only in the present and lack free will, in contrast to Hamlet. Both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern question the absurdity of life and death and what it all means, much like how Hamlet explored the absurd. Tom Stoppard meticulously crafted the two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet and put them center stage in his own play and gave them existential object qualities, which was contrast to Hamlet’s character and confirms the idea