Open Prompt 2004

Often a great work of literature will provoke the reader by raising questions related to the material that prompt discussion and possibly new composition. This could not be more true in the case of Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in relation to the play as a whole were enough to inspire Tom Stoppard to develop an entirely new play revolving around these two characters. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard raises a the central question of whether we are in control or can be aware of our own fate. He poses and attempts to answer it using  existentialist dialogue that reflects major thematic material in Hamlet. Rosencrantz's and Guildnestern's search for meaning drives the action of the play and is one of the most important aspects of the work as a whole.

From the very onset of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern question their origin. They find themselves on a journey and struggle to remember the reason for it. The way their deductions follow, it is clear that the cause of their journey is really their conception, because their purpose from the audience's point of view is to serve as friends of Prince Hamlet who forward the plot of Shakespeare's work. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's function as a plot device in one play and as free-thinking beings within their own narrative is what creates the existential quandary Stoppard uses to explore how "fated" the two characters are. For example it does not seem to bother them that they are instantly transported to Denmark, or when the Tragedians show them a miniature version of  Hamlet concluding with their own deaths. While the play is written a certain way, the subjects of it cannot know how little free will they have. Thus the plot can exist as an elaborate conceit for our own experiences in life, which may seem random as they occur and scripted in retrospect.

However, Stoppard really explores the question of whether Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are aware of their inevitable end once they board the ship bound for England with Prince Hamlet. At this point, Guildenstern becomes very distraught because he realizes that no matter what he and Rosencrantz do at this point, they are stuck on the boat and will go wherever it takes them, despite their ability to move about the cabin creating an illusion of control. At this "point of no return," Rosencrantz and Guildenstern still have no control over their fate, but they seem much more aware of it. When they act out their meeting with the King of England and read the duplicate note calling for their own deaths, they face death as if it is simply a stage direction, not a surprise.

Stoppard's meditation on Hamlet seems to come to two conclusions about our relationship with fate. First is that we have fixed paths that have a beginning and an end, possibly both at the same point, the way that the pattern of the brother usurping the throne recurs cyclically during the Tragedian performance. The second is that we can be aware that our fate is beyond our control, but only when we can see the result of our actions in sight and thus when it is too late to change. We can read the script we follow, but never edit its contents.