"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" Summary/Analysis

Author: Sir Tom Stoppard is a British playwright, originally born in Czechoslovakia. He is a prolific writer and has been knighted for his work. His works tend to focus on human rights, censorship, political freedom, linguistics, and philosophy. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is one of his most famous works, an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy.

Setting: Some settings can be inferred - since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in Hamlet, the settings include Elsinore and the boat they take to Britain. Significantly, scenes that are not part of Hamlet, such as the path between Rosencrantz's and Guildenstern's houses and Elsinore, tend to feature minimalist sets with little description.

Plot: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are traveling together, flipping coins as they do so. They always land on heads, Rosencrantz winning them. Rosencrantz is happy, but Guildenstern wonders about the implications of probability being violated. They can't remember why they are there, only that a messenger summoned them.

They meet a group of traveling actors, the Tragedians. The Player, the troupe's leader, suggests that they no longer perform classical tragedies (because no one will watch), so they now specialize in sexual shows. He offers to let the two participate for money. Guildenstern makes the coin-flipping bet with the Player and wins. The Player has no money, so Guildenstern asks him for a play instead. As he starts to leave, Rosencrantz reveals the last coin as having landed on tails.

R + G are now in Elsinore. They see Hamlet and Ophelia have their first interaction after Hamlet goes "mad". Claudius explains that he summoned them to find out what is wrong with Hamlet (mixing up their identities as he greets them). R + G discuss how they might interrogate Hamlet, practicing with a game of questions and with Guildenstern later pretending to be Hamlet. However, Rosencrantz is still confused about their identities and why they are there. They realize that Old Hamlet has died and that Claudius has usurped the throne and married Gertrude. They hear Hamlet speaking to Polonius.

Hamlet talks to R + G, further confusing them with his speech. Polonius arrives and says the Tragedians have, too. R + G, again alone, complain about how Hamlet talked circles around them and didn't reveal anything. They don't know if he is mad. Polonius and Hamlet return with the Tragedians and announce that there will be a play the next day. R + G and the Player privately discuss why Hamlet might be mad. The Player leaves, and R + G talk about what happens to someone after they die. Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia enter, and R + G explain that Hamlet has invited them all to attend the play. Everyone leaves and Hamlet enters. He doesn't notice R + G, but wonders whether he should kill himself. Ophelia enters, praying. She and Hamlet talk and then exit.

Alfred (the young transvestite Tragedian) arrives as Gertrude. The Tragedians arrive and begin rehearsing the play, which metaphorically shows Claudius's usurpation of the throne and marriage to Gertrude. Ophelia enters, crying, followed by Hamlet, who yells at her ("get thee to a nunnery") and leaves. Claudius and Polonius enter and leave, taking Ophelia with them. The Player explains the play and how it parallels events at Elsinore. However, it also predicts R's + G's deaths. They discuss how accurately death can be portrayed on stage.

The scene blacks out and voices say that the play affected Claudius. The next day, Claudius and Gertrude call R + G to find Hamlet, as he has killed Polonius. Alone, they come up with a plan to trap Hamlet with their belts, but Hamlet enters from a different direction and leaves with Polonius's body. R + G call him back, but he won't say what he has done with the body. Hamlet accuses them of being tools of Claudius. Hamlet leaves as Claudius enters, but is brought back by guards.

Outdoors, Guildenstern tells Rosencrantz that they now have orders to escort Hamlet to England. Hamlet arrives, talking to a soldier. They depart. While on the boat, R + G wonder (again) where they are and if they are dead. They see Hamlet sleeping, remember the mission, and think about what to do when they arrive in England. Guildenstern has the letter Claudius gave them, which indicates that Hamlet will be executed in England. R + G don't know what to do.

While R + G sleep, Hamlet switches the letter for one that he wrote. R + G wake up in the morning and hear music coming from barrels. They find the Tragedians in the barrels, but then pirates board the ship. Hamlet, the Player, and R + G get back in the barrels. The lights go down and come back up. Hamlet is gone, and only the Player and R + G emerge from the barrels. R + G tell the Player about the letter they have and decide what they will say to the king. Guildenstern discovers that the letter has been switched and says that they will be executed instead. The Tragedians circle around them. Guildenstern, despairing, grabs a knife from the Player and stabs him. The Player appears to die. The Tragedians then applaud as the Player rises again. He claims that his performance was mediocre, revealing the knife to be a prop.

The Player talks about the different deaths they can perform, while his troupe acts them out. Rosencrantz claps. R + G are then left alone. Rosencrantz has a breakdown and leaves as he realizes death is approaching. Guildenstern wonders how this happened, lamenting that there must have been an opportunity to change their fate that they missed. He exits.

Back at Elsinore, the dead bodies of Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, and Laertes are shown. Horatio arrives and gives the final speech.

Characters:

• Rosencrantz: Both he and Guildenstern are meant to be everyman figures. He is easygoing, as he doesn't seem to grasp the implications of the occurrences in the play, such as coins always landing on heads. He tends to be confused by the action and by Guildenstern's reactions, and, as such, does not share Guildenstern's sense of despair. However, he is more practical and prefers to deal with simple, efficient solutions to problems rather than philosophical ones. Thus, Guildenstern believes that he does not think seriously or deeply. However, Rosencrantz reveals that he is capable of following Guildenstern's feelings and keeps trying to cheer him up. Through seemingly stupid actions, such as easy bets, he encourages Guildenstern to remain optimistic in the midst of chaos. On the other hand, he displays terror when confronted with his own mortality and consistently displays fear when thinking about what it is like to be dead.

• Guildenstern: His behavior tends to contrast Rosencrantz's. He is more anxious about the philosophical implications of their strange circumstances and tries to use logic to reason through the action of the play. However, his inability to do so frustrates him immensely. He gets angry at Rosencrantz because he thinks that Rosencrantz is always making light of their situation. Near the end of the play, his anger reaches its height as he tries to kill the Player when he thinks he is about to die without having discovered what is happening to him. However, he is shown to have sensitivity when he consoles Rosencrantz after yelling at him. When Rosencrantz is confused by the events at Elsinore (and later), Guildenstern reassures him that they will be okay and will return home soon.

• The Player: He reveals many of the meanings of the work. He often suggests that they are all actors/characters in a larger work and implies that R + G merely need to ask the right questions. He appears to understand R's + G's experiences and can contrast them with "normal" experiences. He also seems to know their emotions when they face their mortality at the end. Interestingly, he manages to maintain both that the troupe will sell their bodies for money and that tragedy will always been needed and still has its integrity.

The other characters were analyzed previously and are therefore omitted.

Style: As a play, the work does not have a narrative voice per se, but follows R + G. They are always onstage and their emotions and actions are always known, but those of other characters are only revealed as R + G see them. As with many other Absurdist works, the dialogue features several non sequiturs and much repetition and circular conversations. As a result, there is high comedy, as well as some low comedy, such as when both R + G try to bow when their identities get mixed up.

Tone: Stoppard takes on a comic tone in this work, deriving humor from the fact that both he and the audience know that this is just a play (though the characters do not, with the possible exception of the Player). Therefore, he is able to make jokes and witty observations about it, especially by breaking the fourth wall, and can introduce impossibilities, such as coins always landing on heads or a troupe of actors all climbing out of a single barrel.

Imagery: While imagery is featured in certain dialogues, such as when characters discuss how death works and appears, Stoppard avoids including description of scenery when possible. Thus, the sets are minimal and few cues are given to establish how they should look. This keeps the attention on the main characters and their reactions and misunderstanding of what is going on around them.

Symbolism:

• Coins: The flipping of the coins (and the fact that they always come up heads) indicates that the laws of probability are no longer in effect and represent the strangeness of the world into which R + G have been cast. They also symbolize the way time is frozen for characters. To Guildenstern in particular, the coins represent the determinism that seems to now be in charge of their universe.
• Wind: The wind seems to be ever present in the work. In particular, it seems to represent the pace at which events are unfolding and the degree of chaos to which R + G seem to be exposed. It picks up when things happen apace and calms when there is a lull in the action. It also represents a sense of direction and orientation. R + G cannot determine which way the wind is blowing (i.e. they have no idea what is going on), although it does lead them to an argument about pragmatism. On the other hand, the Player says that he does know which way it's blowing (and he certainly seems to know what is going on). Near the end, the wind also appears to be the force driving R + G to their fates, as it fills the sails of the boat that is meant to carry them to their deaths.
• Boat: The boat embodies a couple of prophecies that are made earlier in the play. The play that the Tragedians put on prophecies that R + G will die. (Strange that they end up on the boat too, huh?) R + G themselves also have a conversation in which they wonder what death is like. Rosencrantz seems to think that death could be a boat, and for them, it does seems to represent that, as it carries them to their fates. In conjunction with the wind, it also seems to represent fate/determinism. They have no control of it, but it is supposed to carry them to their deaths - their ultimate fates.

Quotes:

• "GUIL: You and I, Alfred – we could create a dramatic precedent here."
  He is referring to the possibility that they could both walk out of a play in which they are two characters. While Alfred, like the rest of the Tragedians, seems to recognize that he is a character, Guildenstern has a moment in which he seems to be not his character, but a person who understands that a play is in progress.
• "GUIL: Well…aren't you going to change into your costume?
  PLAYER: I never change out of it, sir."
  This demonstrates the Player's understanding that he is, and is meant to be, an actor and a character in a play. This is also an instance in which he seems to be subtly hinting the truth to R + G, namely, that they are like him.
• "GUIL: Our names shouted in a certain dawn…a message…a summons…There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said – no. But somehow we missed it."
  This is Guildenstern trying to recall that how he was somehow "sucked" from where he was before the events of the play and how he ended up where he is now. This suggests a break between reality and his current position.

Theme: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is centered on the relationship between real life and plays. In particular, it focuses on the characters' experiences - whether or not they understand that they are in a play and how much control over and understanding of the events they have.

This is supported by the Player repeatedly suggesting that he is aware that he is a character (and nothing else), as well as a few key moments when R + G seem to realize it as well and break the fourth wall. Events also seem to proceed deterministically, as they would if one's actions were already written down. Time seems to stop, events repeating themselves, as when the coins repeatedly land on heads, reflecting that characters repeatedly experience the same events - their worlds do not change.