Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

The Fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Tom Stoppard tells the story of Hamlet through the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two seemingly insignificant characters who are unable to accomplish anything asked of them. At the end of Act III, as Guildenstern stands waiting execution, he states, “There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said – no.” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never had a chance to say no; Stoppard and the events that happen around them control their lives. They are actors, merely acting out their roles unable to escape the plot or their fate. Neither Rosencrantz nor Guildenstern knows where he is, why he's there or what he's supposed to do next, and the pair's efforts to find out these things are thwarted by the fact that they can only play themselves as written.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent for in the play to accomplish one thing – find out what is wrong with Hamlet. They don’

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In Act II, Guildenstern also says, “Wheels have been set in motion and they have their own pace, to which we are…condemned”. They have no say whatsoever in what happens to them. As Guildenstern awaits his death, he wonders if there was a moment when they could have changed the course of events. If they were able to change their fate they wouldn’t have been the same Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Stoppard intended for them to be. The sequence of events wouldn’t have been the same if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had the ability to escape their death.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had no control over the events in this play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern could have done one of these things and changed the course of events, but only if Stoppard would allow it to happen. Some people would argue that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were capable of changing their fate. The only thoughts these men know are the ones Stoppard wants them to know. Since they are merely actors acting out their roles, they are unable to change the course of events. Stoppard invented them at this very moment; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern awoke so that they could act in Stoppard’s play. They could say that if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern figured out what was bothering Hamlet, found Polonius’ body when asked, kept Hamlet on the ship, and presented Hamlet to the King of England, then they could have altered the play and therefore changed their fate. But, by doing this, they would have taken on Stoppard’s role as the writer of the play. They only knew what they were told and Stoppard had the ultimate control. Guildenstern uses the word condemned that in a sense foreshadows their death.

Approximate Word count = 664
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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