By Niladri Mahaptra

Synopsis:

As the play opens, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are betting on the outcome of flipped coins. Guildenstern has bet that the outcome of each flipped coin will be tails, and Rosencrantz has bet that each outcome will be heads. Rosencrantz is on a winning streak—the coin has landed heads up seventy-six times in a row. This begins to frustrate Guildenstern who knows that the laws of probability and logic should prevent such a streak. As they continue to flip coins, the two begin to remember how they arrived to where they are—a place described as one “without much visible character.” Rosencrantz recalls that a messenger had woken them up with an urgent royal summons. While Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had set off in a hurry, they could not now remember where they were going. As they try to determine which direction they were heading, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hear music, and a band of tragedians enter. Upon seeing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the leader of the tragedians, the Player, introduces himself and his troupe. The Player is ecstatic to have an audience, since times have been difficult for actors as of late. The Player lists all of the types of shows he and his troupe are capable of performing, including ones in which Guildenstern and Rosencrantz could participate. However, the tragedians will not perform for free. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are caught off guard, and the tragedians pack up to head off. Before they leave, Guildenstern stops the tragedians in a wager for how many times a coin, when flipped, will turn up heads. The tragedians eventually lose the bet and run out of money. In payment, Guildenstern proposes that the tragedians put on a play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then arrive in Elsinore, rather suddenly, where they see Hamlet act strangely to Ophelia. Gertrude and Claudius emerge to greet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and to ask them to figure out what has caused Hamlet’s recent erratic behavior. The two begin to brainstorm some of the reasons Hamlet might be distraught, and soon realize that Hamlet has quite a few reasons to be upset and acting strangely— Hamlet’s father died suddenly, his mother married his uncle, and his uncle ascended the throne. Hamlet then greets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and welcomes them to Elsinore. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue their conversation with Hamlet, Polonius announces that the Players have arrived. These players are the same tragedians Guildenstern and Rosencrantz met on their way to Elsinore. Hamlet asks the Player to put on a production of a play called The Murder of Gonzago. After the Player agrees to perform the play, Hamlet sets off, and the Player tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern how hurt he and the tragedians were to find that the two had left in the middle of the performance the tragedians had put on when they met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on the road. As actors, the tragedians need an audience in order to exist. The Player tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he must learn new lines Hamlet has written for him for the play. As he leaves, the Player advises Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to relax. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern determine that Hamlet appears to be sane, considering his circumstances, and brief Gertrude, Claudius, and Polonius on Hamlet’s plan to put on a play that night. The Players begin to rehearse the silent mimed portion of the play they are about to perform. Two spy characters in the mime closely resemble Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but as the two watch the rehearsal, they cannot place the resemblance. The two spy characters die, and Claudius is heard shouting for lights to come on and for the tragedian’s play to end. Claudius then enters to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Hamlet has killed Polonius and that they must escort Hamlet to England and deliver a note to the King once they arrive. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern abide. On the boat to England, Rosencrantz panics, believing he has lost the letter that they need to deliver to the King of England when they arrive. After finding the letter, the two role play how the King might react to their arrival. During this role play, they open the letter and discover that in it, Claudius has instructed the King of England to execute Hamlet. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s childhood friends, they are at a loss for what to do. Should they disobey their orders or help their friend? Eventually, Guildenstern suggests that they leave well enough alone, and the two fall asleep. As they sleep, Hamlet replaces the original letter with the orders for his execution with a new letter. The next day, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern rise to the sound of distant music. Rosencrantz determines that the music is coming from inside a barrel on the ship’s deck. When he opens the barrel, the tragedians emerge. Their performance in Elsinore had angered Claudius, and they stowed away on the ship. As they talk, the ship is attacked by pirates and great confusion and chaos ensues. When the attack is over, they notice Hamlet has disappeared. Angry, Guildenstern produces the letter that he and Rosencrantz are supposed to deliver to the King when they arrive in England. In the midst of his anger and his role play with Rosencrantz as to how the King might respond to their arrival, Guildenstern reads the letter only to find out that now, the letter demands for the immediate execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The Player tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that death is common. However, Guildenstern does not believe the tragedians know anything of death, and stabs the Player. The Player acts out a death only to reveal that the knife Guildenstern had used was fake. The rest of the tragedians begin to act out gruesome deaths that mirror the deaths in the final scene of Hamlet. As the tragedians finish their performance, Rosencrantz disappears. Guildenstern is left alone onstage until he, too, disappears into darkness. In Elsinore, Horatio stands among the corpses of Hamlet, Laertes, Claudius, and Gertrude. An ambassador enters to tell Horatio that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Main Topics:

Existentialism–

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are on a mission. They cannot, however, exactly remember what that mission is, where they are headed, or even who they are—often, the two mix up who is Rosencrantz and who is Guildenstern. They appear to exist in a world that is only loosely bound to principles of reality and laws of the universe, a world that does not have definite divisions of space or a definite character. In pursuit of their mission, they often find themselves tangled up in unanswerable questions, unsure of how to proceed. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is often considered to be a semi-existential comedy. In many ways, existential ideas are at the core of Tom Stoppard’s play. According to existentialism, existence precedes essence. That is, a person is born without an essence, or a set of core characteristics and personality traits, and that an individual’s essence comes from his or her interaction with the world. Right from the start, we see that the world of the play is one in which existence appears to precede essence. As the play opens, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are placing bets on the outcome of a flipped coin. In this initial action, the two are seen as existing in a space that does not have much distinguishing character or essence. They themselves have a difficult time remembering what it is that has led them to where they are. Their existence in the space is definite while the reasons for their being in the space and the reason for their actions is not. In this sense, the existence of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is definite, while the essence, or character traits of the two characters, appears to be less defined. Then, there are the rules of the world which appear to stray from reason. Every time Rosencrantz or Guildenstern flips a coin in the opening sequence, the coin lands heads side-up. This goes against the law of probability that assumes that every time a coin is flipped, it has an equal chance of landing on heads or tails and therefore should land tails side-up about as often as it lands heads side-up. Existentialism takes the stance that there are no laws or reason in the world. Since the law of probability does not seem to be in effect, it appears that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in an existential realm, a realm without definite, dependable rules. It is important to consider the historical context from which Stoppard was writing in order to understand the role existential ideas play in this work. Stoppard was born just before the start of World War II, a war that caused massive and widespread destruction. Stoppard’s family did not escape that destruction entirely: Eugen Straussler, Stoppard’s father, was killed by the Axis Powers in Singapore. Existentialism emerged, in large part, in response to the chaos and devastation of World War II, at a time in which the natural laws of the universe did not seem to make sense and ambiguity ruled. The world appeared to be an absurd place—a place without answers. While existentialism is a prominent force in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the play is not a purely existential work. What sets Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead apart from a pure existential play is the meta-theatrical elements that run through the work. In a discussion with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, The Player says that the fates of the characters in the plays the Tragedians perform are not decided, they are written, and that it is his goal to “aim at the point where everyone who is marked for death dies.” Considering that the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are written to die in Hamlet, as well as considering the title of the play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, the fates of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz appear to be set before the play even begins. The fact that the fates of the two lead characters are determined before the action of the play unfolds does not adhere to the tenants of an existential work.

Meta-theatre: A Play within a Play–

Meta-theatre is a literary term defined as “theatre that draws attention to its unreality,” according to the Oxford English dictionary. The most common way a piece of theatre draws attention to its unreality is through the use of a play-within-a play. While this device allows the audience to become aware that the work they are watching is a piece of fiction, it also holds a mirror up to the performer-audience relationship and asks the audience to examine the role they play in a theatrical performance. Meta-theatre plays a significant role in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. In fact, it can be anatomized in three levels in the play.

1. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as a play within Hamlet – Shakespeare’s Hamlet provides the framework for Stoppard’s play. In fact, the action of Hamlet drives much of the action of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. In his play, Stoppard has taken two minor characters from Hamlet and expanded upon their role and experience during the action of Hamlet. In this sense, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play within Hamlet.
2. Hamlet as a play within Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – While Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead exists within Hamlet, Stoppard’s inclusion of the text from large passages of Hamlet as well as the inclusion of the action of Hamlet taking place in the background of the action between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern places Hamlet within Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This double meta-theatre relationship between Stoppard’s play and Shakespeare’s play highlights the large extent to which the two works are intrinsically linked in Stoppard’s work.

• The Players’ play-within-a-play – In Shakespeare’s work, Hamlet asks a group of traveling players to perform The Murder of Gonzago for the court. In The Murder of Gonzago, the King’s nephew, Lucianus becomes jealous of the King. Lucianus decides to kill his brother by pouring poison in his ear while he is sleeping in order to woo the Queen and to usurp his brother’s throne. The action of The Murder of Gonzago is almost identical to the actions Claudius took in order to become King of Denmark. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the Players both rehearse their performance of the play for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and perform the play for the court at the same time. In this sense, the Players’ play-within-a-play, becomes a play-within-two plays.

Important Questions for Preparation:

1. Explore the theme of death in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
2. Critics often compare Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot to Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. What are some of the similarities and differences between the two plays?
3. The play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead reflects a quest for meaning. – explain.
4. What does Tom Stoppard think of Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?
5. What makes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead a satire?
6. Uncertainty is one of the major themes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. How far is it true?
7. Why is the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead considered absurdist?
8. Discuss the theme of lost identity in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.