Hamlet and R+G are dead:
Discuss the parallels between Shakespeare's Hamlet and SToppard's Rosencrantz and GUildenstern are dead and how Stoppard has transformed these parallels for a modern audience. Make reference to the context and text.The plays Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard contain many parallels such as themes, character comparisons and through the basic plot. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead has been heavily influenced by Hamlet, Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, and several other plays and playwrights. In addition to these literary influences, a key factor in the transformation of the play, and the parallels contained within it and Hamlet, to a modern audience has also been the time in which it was written. Stoppards transformation of the play has been heavily influenced by absurdism in style and existentialism in philosophy and thought.Ultimately however, we can see that the play Hamlet has been transformed from the early 17th century to 20th century values and beliefs. The play focuses on the life of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern during the play Hamlet, while they are 'not in' Hamlet. As they are not major characters and have minimal roles in Hamlet, Stoppard has turned
A principal difference between both plays is that in Hamlet we tend to concentrate on the development of one main character, Hamlet with his personal struggles and destiny. We can associate with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's fears and frustration about the uncertainty inherent in life because ultimately their fate is our own. This is an important factor in the 20th century transformation as it is now a common style in modern literature to focus on the anti-hero, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being these, the common person. This time frame presented us with a social revolution, that being a dramatic change in human views of the world. For much of the play we see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in an off-stage world, which ironically is on-stage. Stoppard has transformed the destiny of the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, into the destiny of two ordinary people, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. "The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defence against the pure emotion of fear. Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead contain a parallel where both plays are full of plays on words and double meanings. We can see however, that the corresponding themes and issues have been transposed to focus on modern day views and ideas such as existentialism. The unorthodox results of the coin toss can be interpreted as an indication to Guildenstern that he and Rosencrantz are within an irrational world devoid of logic and reason. Structurally, both plays Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead both include the feature of a play within a play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trapped in a situation that is inescapable; they confront an existential condition and ultimately lament the meaninglessness of their existence in the face of an 'author' who proves no savoir and prescribes for them only eventual death. He is petrified by the proposition that he is living in a world governed paradoxically by the theory of probability, a world where initial events seem 'random' but where the end is irrevocably fixed or determined - their destiny. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's bewilderment and angst, their metaphysical speculations and the games in which they indulge to while away the time and overcome their fears of the unknown.
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Acceptance Essays
