Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead 

Tom Stoppard 

By Antonio, Eurydice and Constantin

 

 

 

Act I – Antonio 

 

In a nondescript wilderness, Rosencrantz watches as Guildenstern flips coins. Each time a coin lands on heads, Rosencrantz gets to keep it. Guildenstern can hardly believe that Rosencrantz has amassed so many coins, but the coins keep coming up heads. He speculates that the two have entered an alternate universe, in which normal laws of probability, time, and chance do not apply. Unlike Guildenstern, Rosencrantz contentedly continues watching (and winning), not bothering to worry about why the coins keep landing heads up. Guildenstern speculates about possible reasons for the run of heads, including whether he is making his friend win as a way of subconsciously punishing himself, whether time has stopped, and whether a god of some kind has stepped in to influence their lives. He also begins to wonder if actions have ceased to exist in relation to one another. 

Guildenstern asks Rosencrantz to describe his earliest memory, but Rosencrantz forgets the question almost immediately. Guildenstern suddenly remembers that the pair has been “sent for.” Then he returns to his speculation about whether they have arrived somewhere in which the usual principles of the world do not apply. Frightened, he uses logic to reassure himself that they have not entered a parallel universe. But, still, he reasons that the coins have landed heads almost a hundred times, a sure sign that the laws of probability have ceased working. He hears music in the distance. As he trims his fingernails, Rosencrantz idly reminds Guildenstern that fingernails and facial hair continue to grow after a person has died. Rosencrantz then mentions that he does not remember ever cutting his toenails. These comments agitate Guildenstern, who asks Rosencrantz if he remembers anything from that morning. Rosencrantz recalls being woken by a stranger, an answer that calms Guildenstern. Rosencrantz says that they are on the road as a result of this stranger, who bade them to hurry up and go. But they do not know where they are going. Rosencrantz hears music but decides that he has only imagined it. Guildenstern claims that an audience makes any event real. The Tragedians enter. 

​

Six actors and a three-man band, collectively known as the Tragedians, arrive. Their leader, known as the Player, explains that the group will perform for a small fee. Rosencrantz introduces himself as Guildenstern but quickly realizes his mistake. Calling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “fellow artists,” the Player goes on to list the group’s dramatic specialties, which include sexual performances that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern may participate in for an extra fee. Intrigued, Rosencrantz asks how much it would cost to watch but gets confused by the Player’s attempts to bargain. The Player offers to do practically anything for a few coins, but Rosencrantz misunderstands. The Tragedians prepare to leave. 

The Player says that they are heading to the court. Grabbing the Player, Guildenstern gets angry, only to relax by asking for more details about the performance. The Player responds by urging a young boy named Alfred to put on a skirt and prepare to perform. Disgusted, Guildenstern begins backing away, but the Player holds onto him. Guildenstern punches the Player, tells Alfred to undress, and criticizes the Tragedians for being prostitutes rather than actors. The Tragedians again begin to go. 

​

Rosencrantz stops the actors from leaving by asking what they would do for one coin, which he throws in the air. While the actors clamor to get at the coin, the Player stops them and hits Alfred. Embarrassed, Rosencrantz says that he intends to report on the Tragedians’ practices. Guildenstern stops the actors from leaving by offering them a bet. The Player calls heads and wins the coin. The Player spins the coin, Guildenstern calls heads, and Guildenstern wins. Guildenstern spins again, the Player calls heads, and the Player wins. Guildenstern wins the next round, but then the Player calls tails. Rather than look at the coin, Guildenstern covers it with his foot and says simply, “Heads.” The actors get angry at Guildenstern’s automatic assertion, so Guildenstern looks at the coin and claims to have won it. As the Player protests, Guildenstern spins several more coins, calls them heads, and claims to win each time. Guildenstern proposes a new bet: if the year of the Player’s birth doubled is even, he wins; if odd, the Player wins. 

​

Upon realizing that doubling any digit always produces an even number, the Player explains that they have no money to pay Guildenstern. He offers Alfred as payment instead. Alfred says that he dislikes being an actor. Guildenstern demands to know the actors’ repertoire of plays, because he wants to see a play as payment. Hesitating, the Player says that they belong to the “blood, love and rhetoric school.” The Player then begins giving his actors directions, all while explaining to Guildenstern that he never removes his actor’s outfit or gets out of character. The Player refuses to move around or off stage, until Rosencrantz approaches. As the Player moves away, everyone realizes that he has had his foot on the flipped coin. Rosencrantz announces that the coin had actually landed tails, not heads, as was assumed. As he throws the coin to Guildenstern, the lights change. 

​

As the lights come up, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are now inside, watching as Ophelia rushes past, followed by Hamlet. Silently, Hamlet grabs Ophelia but quickly releases her and runs offstage. Ophelia runs off as well. Then Claudius and Gertrude enter. Speaking Shakespearean English, Claudius confuses Rosencrantz with Guildenstern, then explains that he wants their help in determining what is wrong with Hamlet, their childhood friend. Speaking lines taken directly from the play Hamlet, Claudius says that Hamlet has recently changed, perhaps as a result of his father’s death. Gertrude echoes Claudius’s comments. Also in Shakespearean English, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern promise to do whatever they can to figure out what is bothering Hamlet. Polonius enters to say that he wishes he knew why Hamlet has changed so drastically. Everybody but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leaves. 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to figure out what has just happened. Guildenstern comforts Rosencrantz by telling him that they will soon understand why they are there and what they need to do to return home. Guildenstern reminds him of the logic at work in the universe and says that the two just have to stick it out until the events have ended. They start discussing possible causes of Hamlet’s madness, essentially repeating the speeches made earlier by Claudius and Gertrude. Together, they decide to probe Hamlet using questions and answers. They practice, borrowing the scoring used in tennis, but succeed only in further confusing each other. Whether they are seriously interested in the answers to each other’s questions, or whether they want to beat the other one at the game, is not clear. 

​

Hamlet enters without speaking, then leaves. Immediately, Guildenstern decides that Hamlet has changed greatly. Guildenstern suggests that Rosencrantz pretend to be Guildenstern, while Guildenstern pretends to be Hamlet so that they can practice the question-and-answer game. After a while, Rosencrantz begins asking Guildenstern questions about what has recently transpired at Elsinore, the court of Denmark. They conclude confused, because Hamlet seems to have lots of reasons to be upset: his father has recently died under murky circumstances, and his uncle has usurped the throne to become king and married his mother, Gertrude. 

Hamlet comes back in, confusing his companion Polonius with riddles. He excitedly greets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but mistakes one for the other as the stage goes dark. 

 

 

Act II – Constantin 

 

Ros and Guil meet with Hamlet for the first time. 

 

• "more than natural" In calling the situation "more than natural" Hamlet describes the absurdity of his world – seems to act outside the bounds of natural law and logic.  

 

• Advice to Guildenstern and Rosencrantz: to act out artificial identities by behaving fashionable and ceremonious (rather than just being natural). Hamlet acts crazy (fakes): e.g. tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Polonius is a baby. 

Ros and Guil are reluctant to speak.  

 

• Guildenstern suggests that they "made some headway" but Rosencrantz says that Hamlet "made us look ridiculous." The questions game, which, Ros points out, Hamlet beat them at by a long shot. "He murdered us," (hint of their death?). Guildenstern tries to look on the bright side, saying that they at least got Hamlet's "symptoms" but Rosencrantz insists that those didn't make any sense. While Hamlet answered just three questions, he asked twenty-seven. The answers he gave were alternatively sarcastic and enigmatic, so Rosencrantz and Guildenstern learned nothing. 

 

• They are upset because they've been unable to exercise their own wills in Hamlet's company. He holds complete control over them. 

 

• Ros, Guil and the Player illustrate the slippery nature of identity. Player appears to be the only person capable of differentiating Rosencrantz from Guildenstern.  

 

• The Player understands that identity can be manipulated and altered. The Player always stays in character, never taking off his costume. Still, as an actor, he needs an audience to fully assume his identity. (a reminder that people distinctly influence the identity of other people) 

 

• Tragedians begin a mute rehearsal of The Murder of Gonzago. The Player explains that the silent show is necessary because language is an ineffective tool for communication. 

 

• Player tells Ros and Guil that “all art must unfold according to a logical trajectory that ensures that the characters intended to die do in fact meet their ends”. 

 

• Guildenstern wonders who gets to choose which characters die, and the Player responds that no one does—characters who are written to die must die. (Ros and Guil) 

 

• Ros criticizes the play the Tragedians are performing, Guildenstern says that he prefers art that accurately reflects life. (In the play) The spies and Lucianus arrive in England by ship, only to discover that Lucianus has vanished and that the letter that the king gave them to give to the English king has been replaced with a letter ordering their own deaths. (foreshadowing of their life) 

 

• Ros stops the rehearsal. The two spies in the play are dressed in the same clothes as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz thinks he recognizes them but cannot quite place them. 

 

• While Hamlet makes his “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Ros wonders if he should help him and weighs the pros and cons of helping him. He cannot decide himself and Hamlet leaves the stage. Ros has once again been unable to make a decision. 

 

But, as with Rosencrantz, Guildenstern remains confused. Guildenstern cannot understand the Player’s comments relating to which characters live and which characters die. 

Player explains that language is ambiguous and only has real meaning when coupled with action. Simply sitting around talking means very little and cannot change anyone or anything. (exactly what Ros and Guil are doing) 

 

Through his commentary on the silent show, the Player urges the pair to stop talking, to stop equivocating, and to start making choices, or acting, in the non theatrical sense of the word. 

 

The Murder of Gonzago ends in eight deaths. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as does life, and, like life, which itself always ends in death, the play too ends in death. 

 

It is dawn, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are lying on the floor in the same position and costumes as the dead spies were moments ago. (foreshadowing once again + unable to link facts between them to predict their life = philosophical definition of idiot selon Mr Lang...) 

 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get excited about the murder of Polonius because it gives them a chance to actually attempt to do something (but they don’t...) 

 

​

Act III – Eurydice 

 

​

Starts on a boat.

Ros & Guil had decided to go on the boat, but they seem to wake up on it without having noticed they were gone. 

“in pitch darkness” 

 

“soft sea sounds”  No control on fate  Aren’t sure they are still alive. 

 

“Ah! There’s life in me yet!” 

 

Life / death 

 

Try to understand what happens, why they’re there, but are disorientated. 

 

“Guil: We must have gone north, of course. / Ros: Off course? (…) / Guil: Unless we’re off course. / Ros: Of course.” 

 

 

No control on fate 

​

Absurdism 

The stage directions seem to address the reader directly, to be suggesting ideas. 

 

“A better light – Lantern? Moon? … Light.” 

 

Hope to be free now, but are aware they’re not really 

“One is free on a boat. For a time. Relatively.” 

Freedom 

Free will 

 

Recall the mission. 

 

Are bored, play a coin game (// coin flipping act I): Ros puts a coin in one of his fists behind his back, and Guil chooses one random hand. He wins several consecutive times. 

 

“the single immutable fact – that we, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, bearing a letter from one king to another, are taking Hamlet to England.” 

 

“desperate to lose.” 

 

“Guil: You had money in both hands” 

 

“Ros (pathetic): I wanted to make you happy” 

 

Chance / probability / fate 

Guil accuses Ros of being passive, he has the impression they could decide for themselves if they wished 

“No wonder the whole thing is so stagnant!” 

 

“I am sick of making the running” 

 

Control over fate 

Somehow feel there is a coming danger, their future is uncertain. 

 

Guil tries to comfort him 

“Ros (almost in tears): Oh, what’s going to become of us!” 

 

[once the mission is done] “then that’s it – we’re finished.” 

Fatality 

Death 

 

Dramatic irony 

They think they have lost the letter, panic, but finally find it. 

 

“Ros (helplessly): I can’t remember.” 

Memory 

 

Somehow they understand that something goes wrong, that there is a conspiracy. 

“Guil: We’re just not getting anywhere. / Ros: Not even England. I don’t believe in it anyway. (…) / Guil: Just a conspiracy of cartographers” 

 

Consciousness 

 

“Death is… not. Death isn’t. (…) Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being.” 

 

Death 

Try to take control of the situation, of their fate. 

“Ros: I wish I was dead. (Considering the drop.) I could jump over the side. That would put a spoke in their wheel. / Guil: Unless they’re counting on it. / Ros: I shall remain on board. That’ll put a spoke in their wheel.” 

 

Fate / determinism 

They play a role of Ros being the King of England and Guil delivering the message. During the game, they use the real letter. They have understood their mission is to take Hamlet to be killed. 

 

“They read it together, and separate.” 

 

Guil tries to justify why they should let him be killed without interfering. Ros tries to convince himself they’re not guilty. 

“All in all, I think we’d be well advised to leave well alone.” 

 

“Don’t apply logic. (…) Or justice.” 

 

“we, in consequence, are escorting, for his own good, to England. Good.” 

 

Responsibility of each one’s actions / assuming 

They try to comfort themselves 

“We could have done worse. I don’t think we missed ant chances…” 

 

Control over fate 

Try to understand their situation. 

“on a boat (admittedly) outside the action (admittedly)” 

 

They hear music, wonder what it is. The players arrive. Allusion to the joke they had made (bet on odd numbers once doubled). 

​

“Incidents! All we get is incidents! Dear God, is it too much to expect a little sustained action?! (And on the word, the Pirates attack)” 

 

“We’ve travelled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hope of explanation.” 

 

Control on action / fate 

Hamlet disappears in the battle. They read the letter once again. 

 

“should those bearers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, put to sudden death –” 

Play within a play 

They react calmly, try to analyse the situation. 

“Where we went wrong was getting on a boat. (…) Ours movement is contained within a larger one” 

 

“Guil: Who are we that so much should converge on our little deaths? (…) / Player: You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That’s enough.” 

 

Despair 

Control on life / fate 

 

Fate / determinism 

The Player acts dying. All the tragedians start acting death, while Ros and Guil watch. 

“Then the Tragedians start to applaud.” 

 

“And the light is fading over the deaths which take place right upstage.” 

 

“No… No… not for us, not like that. (…) Death is not a game which will soon be over.” 

 

“We’ve done nothing wrong! We didn’t harm anyone.” 

 

Death in reality and in a play (false/real death) 

​

Despair 

Allusion to the fact it is a play. 

“Well, we’ll know better next time.” 

Play within a play 

Verses from Hamlet. 

“his commandments is fulfilled, that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.”