Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1966. The play reimagines the story of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, placing them at the center of the action. While the events of Hamlet unfold in the background, the focus is on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as they try to navigate their confusion and find meaning in their existence.
In the play, Stoppard explores the idea that language can be unreliable and ineffective as a means of communication. This aligns with a key feature of absurd drama, where words often fail to convey meaning. Stoppard employs various techniques to highlight this theme. Through verbal games and circular conversations between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the play illustrates how their dialogues often go nowhere, filled with questions and uncertainty. Stoppard emphasizes the communication challenges humans face. The dialogue in the play is filled with puns, clichés, and unanswered questions, showing that language has lost its ability to serve as a reliable tool for communication.
In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the questions asked by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern often go unanswered, transforming into statements that no longer seek answers. This shift reflects the fragmentation of language, where words lose their meaning and purpose. The play suggests that language becomes a barrier rather than a bridge to understanding. Stoppard shows how words can be treacherous, as once an idea is put into words, it loses its original meaning due to multiple interpretations.
In the court setting, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are forced to communicate using Elizabethan blank verse, which contrasts with the simple, modern English they naturally speak. This constraint further limits their freedom and highlights the play’s theme that language can restrict rather than liberate. Stoppard also understands the power of silence and pause. Although Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not silent often, their pauses are theatrically meaningful, signaling their different thought processes. These silences emphasize the characters’ confusion and uncertainty in a world where communication often fails. Absurdist theatre is characterized by its use of humor to cope with the meaningless and the absurd. One common method in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is through games, which the characters engage in to relieve their boredom and distract themselves from their existential fears. For example, they play a verbal game where they keep asking each other questions, but the rules prevent repetition, making statements, or using complex language. This game resembles a tennis match, with questions coming and going without ever being answered. Even their duty to the king and Hamlet is treated as just another game. Through these games, Stoppard underscores the absurdity of their existence and the way they attempt to cope with the chaos surrounding them.
Stoppard uses several metaphors in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to convey deeper meanings. For example, when Hamlet refers to Denmark as a “prison,” it’s not meant to be taken literally, as Denmark is a country, but as a symbol of the characters’ entrapment in their roles and their lack of agency. This metaphor illustrates how the characters are trapped in a situation that they can’t escape, much like prisoners confined to a specific fate.
By liberating language from conventional rules, absurdist playwrights like Stoppard reveal the chaotic nature of existence. In absurdist theatre, characters might engage in lengthy discussions or playful banter, but these conversations often lack substance, highlighting the futility of human communication. The dialogue in these plays often circles without clear resolution or meaning, reflecting the randomness and uncertainty of life itself. This use of language and metaphor emphasizes the absurdity of the characters’ search for meaning in a world that offers none.