Comparison between Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
William Shakespeare remains the most renounced writer of plays, love acts, among other major literary materials. His work has inspired many other modern writers. One of the writers that were inspired by Shakespeare is Tom Stoppard. Tom Stoppard wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were dead play in 1967. Being inspired by Shakespeare, many literary analysts believe that his play is a carbon copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet written in the 1600s. Despite Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s close similarities with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, everybody who has read these two plays can tell that Stoppard added a lot of his own philosophical ideas and twists in his play that makes it differ with Hamlet. To extend the discussion of the similarities and differences between the plays of Shakespeare and Stoppard, this essay juxtaposes both plays by instilling extensive analysis to draw similarities and differences that exist in the two plays.
Similarities between Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
The presentation of the theme of death is similar and tends to revolve throughout these two plays. In both plays, death appears to be unavoidable and is deliberated to everyone. For instance, in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the entire plays resonate on factors and circumstances leading to the death of the play’s main characters, where they demise entirely from focus and the epicenter of the play. Similarly, Hamlet has its plot developed in a manner that every character is aware of how death is inevitable to everyone. As Rosencrantz, “ everybody is born having the intuition of morality.’’ (Shakespeare, 1965) Shakespeare states that in Hamlet, “we are aware that our deaths aren’t avoidable and we have to be aware of it even before knowing the term death itself.’’
The other similarity is the perception of what happens after death. After death, the two plays believes that there is no segregation of who you were or what you did during a lifetime. When people die, they generally become the same. Your body will decay in a similar way with that of every other person regardless of the accomplishments or failures during a lifetime. In Hamlet, Shakespeare talks of Alexander the Great, saying after death, he did not differ with a commoner. “Do not think Alexander had a different fashion on the earth.” (Stoppard, 2017) This means that even the greatest conquerors were not exempted from death. The presentation of life after death is similar in the two plays making Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bear a close similarity.
The last similarity is the presentation of conflict and how the character tries to deal with them. The two plays present a world filled with chaotic and disturbing scenarios that require the character to make decisions that will help adjust their fate. Shakespeare presents hamlet, who is troubled with a lot of situations, but he is able to get into control and redirect his own fate. Similarly, Stoppard presents characters in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who life in a world full of chaotic situations whose decisions will deliver them into a better or worse fate. Thus, the portray of a chaotic world and decision making to control fate makes hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to be similar.
Despite these similarities making the two plays look similar, there exist other scenarios that make Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead to differ. These differences are discussed below.
Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern differed in the period when they were written. The writing of Hamlet by Shakespeare took place during the 16th century. The period presents the century during which Elizabethan context was rooted in which certainty was questioned with an increasing necessity of individual choice against that of their fate. Shakespeare was influenced by Renaissance, writing in a traditional format of vengeful tragedy. On the other hand, Stoppard wrote his play in the 19th century during a period of disillusionment brought about by World War tragedies, with existential movements being his main influences. Due to his regard for the future and past, Stoppard used a traditional format know as “Theatre of the Absurd” (Stoppard, 2017) with the inclusion of existentialism.
The other difference between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is the technique and style of writing used in the two plays. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the style of Emotional involvement and Action theatre. In hamlet, there is audience involvement with the twisting of events to helps change the emotions and associated responses of the audience. This makes the audiences to be deluded to thinks that whatever they are reading is a real-life event. Shakespeare enhances this through the structure of the play in an orderly manner from the beginning, middle of the play, and climax or the end to bond it with the audience experience (Shakespeare, 1965). On the other hand, Stoppard uses the style of Isolation or Alienation. The audiences are distanced from the events on the play and evaluated critically. Intellectualism majors in the play, which changes the audience’s way of thinking, affecting the way the audience will act in society.
The last difference discussed in this essay is the perception of the universe. Hamlet assumes that the universe is comprised of moral order. As quoted from the play, Shakespeare states that “ our fates and will run contrary overthrowing our devices with our own thoughts remaining ours and their ends being none of ours. Thus, we assume to learn through divinity that shapes our own end. For Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the universe is governed by chance. At one point, Guildenstern says that “ (Shakespeare, 1965). No one is restricted. There exist absolutely zero boundaries nor any imposition of inhibitors.’’ This is affirmed after Guil becomes aware of his own fate from the letter addressed to him by King of England. He says that its essay to change our destiny, but our localization is within a larger one. Thus, the perception of the universe in the two plays makes them differ.
To sum up, one writer can borrow ideas from the other to complete his or her own literary material. However, the ideas presented in work can differ or be similar in relation to the analyzes of the two written materials. This is evident in Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
References
Stoppard, T. (2017). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead = Rosencrantz et Guildenstern sont morts. Presses Universitaires Du Midi. C.