Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

I Have No Idea What Is Happening.

(An Analysis of Three Important Messages in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.” Although seemingly meaningless in a vast play like Hamlet, these words become crucial as we venture into the extensive world of literature. These words become essential in other texts. These two men are now forced to interpret the world as protagonists themselves. They develop their own individual characters, rather than being considered one flat character lumped together. The play presented deals with the world on a new level. Those characters we might not have considered important before are given a new role in a classic play, and are shown to be much more important than one might originally

Throughout the play, the two lead characters become confused over and over by the ambiguity of the world. They are never quite sure of why they have been called back to Denmark. They only know that the king and queen have called them, so they must go. In this way, they are similar to the rest of the world. From a very young age, we are taught to blindly follow authority without questioning motives. In the case of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, it ultimately leads to a fatal end. Their assistance of the king and queen was an assistance that could have resulted in the death of the young Hamlet. However, Hamlet rather finds he has been betrayed, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had no idea what Hamlet’s intended fate was. However in the unclear circumstances, there was no other belief to be had by Hamlet. Therefore, Hamlet felt he had no choice but to show Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exactly the loyalty he felt he had been

THroughout the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in a constant state of confusion. Although they rehearse for every possible situation, something always seems to go wrong. The theme of confusion is prevalent from the very beginning of the play, when they are not even able to keep their own names straight. Up to the end of the play, an audience member could still wonder which is which. Although seen as a singular unit in the play Hamlet, in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, we are able to see the two on an entirely new level. They are clearly the jokesters of the play all along, although we do not originally see it in Hamlet. The two characters play off of the confusion that they are constantly thrust into in the world around them. A senior student once said, “The only way to deal with a serious situation is to joke about it.” This is clearly advice that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would take to heart. Joking is a coping mechanism that the two have very clearly