BLOCK 3

BLOCK 3

Tom Stoppard

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are Dead

Tom Stoppard

Life & work

He is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter.

He has written for television, radio, film, and stage, finding
prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every
Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professiona Foul, The Real
Thing, Travesties, The Invention of Love, and Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead.

He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil, The Russia House,
and Shakespeare in Love, and has received an Academy Award and
four Tony Awards.

His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship
and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical
understanding of society.

Synopsis-

Set in the context of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s
childhood friends set upon him by Claudius and Gertrude.

Stoppard’s Play focuses on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who retell and contemplate
their perspective and experience of events of Hamlet.

Excerpts of Shakespeare’s text are used but the language switches from Shakespearian
to modern language.

Neither Rosencrantz or Guildenstern know exactly why they are there or what their
purpose is. The tasks they are given overwhelm them, resulting in them constantly
asking questions about life and death.

The duo witness the dress rehearsal of ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ by The Player and
his troupe, becoming more confused about their situation.

As the story of Hamlet develops, the duo find themselves on a boat with Hamlet
and a letter bound for England. The letter contains Hamlet’s death sentence.
Hamlet discovers this and switches it for another executing them both.

The boat is attacked by pirates and in the skirmish the duo loose Hamlet but
discover the switched letter. They resign themselves mournfully to their fate and
the play ends with Horatio’s final speech, which includes the play’s title line, to
bring the curtain down.

The Play’s History

• Draft Version of one act play, ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear’, written in

1964

• 1966 - Stoppard wrote and expanded into three acts which became the final version we use

today.

• First Premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966

• First World premiere Performance at The Old Vic, 1967, and then moved to its home at

The National Theatre in April 1967

• Debut on Broadway - 1968

• Stoppard’s most famous play – Won Evening Standard’s Award for Most Promising

Playwright and Best Play in 1967 – Won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1968

Rosencrantz
A gentleman and childhood friend of Hamlet. Along with his companion, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz seeks
to uncover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior but finds himself confused by his role in the action of the
play. Rosencrantz has a carefree and artless personality that masks deep dread about his fate.

Guildenstern
A gentleman and childhood friend of Hamlet. Accompanied by Rosencrantz, Guildenstern tries to discover
what is plaguing Hamlet as well as his own purpose in the world. Although frequently disconcerted by the
world around him, Guildenstern is a meditative man who believes that he can understand his life.

The Player
The leader of the traveling actors known as the Tragedians. His cunning wit and confident air suggest that
he knows more than he is letting on. The impoverished state of his acting troupe makes him eager to please
others, but only on his own terms.

Character
Analysis

Tragedians
A group of traveling male actors. The Tragedians specialize in melodramatic and
sensationalistic performances, and they are willing to engage in sexual entertainments if
the price is right.

Hamlet

The prince of Denmark and a childhood friend of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet
is thrown into a deep personal crisis when his father dies and his uncle takes the throne
and marries Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet’s strange behavior confuses the other characters,
especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Claudius
Hamlet’s uncle and the new king of Denmark. Claudius is a sinister character who tries to exploit the
friendship between Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern and Hamlet to learn what Hamlet believes about the
king’s marriage to Gertrude.

Gertrude

Hamlet’s mother and the queen of Denmark. Although she has disgraced herself by marrying Claudius so
soon after her husband’s death, Gertrude does seem to care for Hamlet’s well-being and sincerely hopes that
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can help her son.

Polonius

A member of the Danish court and adviser to Claudius. Polonius is willing to interrogate Hamlet and even
spy on him to learn what he wants to know.

Ophelia
The daughter of Polonius and Hamlet’s former beloved. Ophelia spends the play
in a state of shock and anguish as a result of Hamlet’s bizarre conduct.

Laertes

The son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia. Laertes does not appear in the action
of the play, but his corpse appears in the final scene.

Main Themes

•Question of Life and Death

•The Incomprehensibility of the World – Chances,
Gambling, Luck vs Reason and Logic

•The Difficulty of Making Meaningful Choices

•Relationship Between Reality and The Stage

•Identity – Who are they? Every man?

•Word Play – Ordering and Confusion of Words

•Absurd drama

Original

1967

Production

Folger Theatre

Production

NIU

Production

Current Production

• 2017 – 50th Anniversary Production

● Staring – Daniel Radcliffe as Rosencrantz and Joshua McGuire as Guildenstern – With David Haig

as The Player

● National Theatre Production performed at the Old Vic
● Outstanding Reviews – 4 Stars

• Both a retelling and a sequel to The Merchant of Venice

• Jacobs’s characters are modern counterparts to Shakespeare’s

• This novel carries the original story beyond the borders of the play

• Shylock wandering the earth centuries later - his daughter, evading a forced

conversion to christianity

• Simon Strulovich- his counterpart- a Jewish art collector

• Meets original Shylock in a graveyard

• Strulovich to visit the grave of his mother- Shylock for his wife Leah

• Shylock keeps a lively conversation with his wife

• Strulovich takes Shylock to his home

• Strulovich grows into a modern Shylock

• Other characters of the play never meet their counterpart in the novel

• Strulovich is obsessed with his own daughter Beatrice

• Strulovich’s conflict with D’Anton (Counterpart of Antonio)

• Strulovich is highly possessive- jealous of his daughter’s boy friends

Similarities

No one to depend on once they were abandoned- feel powerless in society

•Shylock

• Responsible for raising a daughter

• Wife died

• Jessica elopes with a Christian

•Strulovich

• Responsible for raising a daughter

• Stroke for his second wife

• Beatrice elopes with Gratan

• Both characters are patriarchal

• Over protective- domineering- unconditional love for daughters

• Shylock’s role as an advisor when Strulovich was against the union of Beatrice

and Gratan

• “Pound of flesh”- fore skin ,ie circumcision to signal conversion to the Jewish

faith

• Strulovich initially demands this to Gratan, as a continuation of his relationship

with Beatrice

• Instead, D’Anton becomes ready

• Shylock knew the approval of marriage would make Beatrice happy (shylock

being a loving father, understands that)

• Marriage can make Beatrice free from Strulovich’s control

• Shylock becomes a role model for Strulovich- he is glorified as great human

being

• This novel converts Shakespeare’s Shylock to a powerful character

• He shows compassion in his relationships- an ideal parent

•
Based on King Lear

•
Ichimonji- a warlord

•
Three sons

•
Hunting a wild boar

•
Ichimonji falls asleep- vision- travelling alone in the world- time to delegate power to one of
his sons

•
Taro- eldest son- request his sons to protect him until his death

•
Saburo, the youngest was excommunicated

•
Taro’s bride- Kaede- Ichimonji slaughtered her family- Keade urges Taro to steal the crown

•
Ichimonji- exile- refuge- Second castle- Jiro- no permission for Ichimonji

•
Jiro assassinates Taro

•
Ichimonji became mad

•
Kaede seduces Jiro and compels him to marry her after killing Lady Sue, his present wife

•
Saburo saves his father

•
Saburo is killed by Jiro

•
Ichimonji becomes mad

•
Lord Ayabe, comes to dethrone Jiro

•
All these events were created by Kaede- revenge on Ichimonji for the murder of her family

•
Kurogane, Jiro’s supporter kills Kaede

•
Ayabe’s soldiers kills Jiro