Comparision Of Hamlet With Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (R and G…) by Tom Stoppard is a transformation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that has been greatly influenced due to an external contextual shift. The sixteenth century Elizabethan historical and social context, accentuating a time of questioning had specific values which are transformed and altered in Stoppard’s Existential, post two-world wars twentieth century historical and social context. The processes of transformation that are evident allow the shifts in ideas, values and external contexts to be clearly depicted. This demonstrates the significance of the transformation allowing new interpretations and ideas about reality as opposed to appearance, death and the afterlife and life’s purpose to be displayed, enabling further insight and understanding of both texts.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet was written in the sixteenth century Elizabethan historical context, where certainty was questioned and there was a growing importance of individuals and their choice as opposed to fate. Influenced by the Renaissance, Shakespeare wrote in the tradition of the revenge tragedy. Stoppard however, who was living in a time of disillusionment due to the tragedies of two world wars, was influenced by the existential movement. Disregarding the past and future due to a lack of trust, Stoppard wrote in a tradition known as the Theatre of the Absurd incorporating existentialism. He uses various processes to adapt and transform the values and ideas influenced by the sixteenth century Elizabethan context in Hamlet to reflect the twentieth century evasion of reality unless it is in a reflexive and directionless present.

In Hamlet, the value of truth incorporates the theme of appearance as opposed to reality and it links itself with the value of the individual and certainty. Appearance and reality is a dominant theme in Hamlet and in the Elizabethan time, truth was valued highly. Claudius’ character demonstrates the theme of appearance or reality in Act One, through adopting an act as though he is grieving the loss of his brother. This is demonstrated in the line, “and that it us befitted/to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom/ to be contracted in one brow of woe”.

However, his tone of sorrow is really an appearance, as it was Claudius himself who murdered Hamlet Senior. This is proven in Claudius’ soliloquy, the second climax to the play when he is praying. “O, my offence is rank; it smells to heaven…a brother’s murder”. His tone is filled with guilt and it is here the value of truth is displayed. Elizabethan’s would have seen Claudius’ deception and value the truthfulness of this climactic soliloquy, in a social context that recognised sin and believed in God’s punishment and reward.

This is juxtaposed by Stoppard in R and G… through using the Player to proclaim that everyone is acting. When Guildenstern asks the Player “aren’t you going to change into your costume?” the Player replies “I never change out of it, sir”. This concept symbolises how life is a continual pretence and we all play act the life roles that are predetermined.

Hamlet also uses the players to determine the reality of the ghost reflecting how he is questioning reality in general. This can be linked with Guildenstern’s [Guil] speech in R and G … about the unicorn and Guil, along with Hamlet, questions what reality is, using the unicorn to symbolise idealism. This lines “a man… no name… sees a unicorn cross his path… more witnesses there are, the thinner it gets” ultimately shows how meaning has the ability to be lost, possibly gained or thinned and that no purpose ever lasts. Stoppard answers questions of reality and illusion through the character Guil who tries to establish the difference between reality and appearance in order to discover the truth. The existentialist view and the influence of the twentieth century historical context is used to portray that the nature of truth is ultimately unknowable and not valued as highly as in Elizabethan Era. This questioning of reality is a point of similarity between Hamlet and R and G….

The Player in R and G… provides insight into existence with his speech in Act Two and through a contextual transformation also provides insight into the play Hamlet. The values related to existence in Hamlet have been transformed in R and G…, with the idea of the importance of people having awareness being juxtaposed. In the Elizabethan social context, people believed others always watched with God witnessing all. Hamlet watches Claudius’ climactic praying soliloquy, becoming the witness in determining its existence. In R and G…, Stoppard transforms this by questioning whether in life there is anyone watching or caring for us. In the Player’s speech, through a frustrated tone, the lines “to be tricked… вЂ" that somebody