Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters created by Shakespeare for the purpose of drawing Hamlet’s condition a little more clearly. They are called to the court of Elsinore by Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, and his uncle, Claudius, newly crowned king and husband to Gertrude. This follows Hamlet’s father’s murder, and Hamlet’s consequent spiritual decline.

Their quest is to find out what is troubling Hamlet, being school friends as they were. A relatively simple task it would seem. In Tom Stoppard’s interpretation of the back story of these two incidental but crucial characters in Hamlet they get the chance to wonder out loud why they were required, and why they have to die.

And as you might guess by the title of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do die.

So a lot of the story is around Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s quest for meaning for their existence. This quest is interrupted periodically by the certainty that comes with Shakespeare’s text and their interactions with the cast of Hamlet. The only thing they, or Stoppard, have to go on are the times Shakespeare writes them into the action of Hamlet. The rest is guesswork.

The Players wander in and out of the dual realities created by Shakespeare and Stoppard and so provide an important link between Elsinore and the journey. They provide the catalyst for the climax of Hamlet and for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Ultimately there can be only one destination for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as decreed by Shakespeare, as for us all. Stoppard tries to make us think about the journey.

     

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