While many characters fulfill significant roles in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the protagonists’ schoolmates, take an interesting place. The two men appear in the play and do nothing of importance, talking to Hamlet and trying to devise why he is behaving weirdly at the request of the king. However, once Hamlet finds out about their plot, he arranges their murder and saves himself at the same time. While the revelation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s betrayal is an essential part of the original tragedy, the two characters are entirely replaceable as they do not contribute to the plot. Thus, one may argue that the men are devoid of free will, forced to exist in the play without any contribution, and to meet their demise in the end.
The movie Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead builds on this idea and offers an absurdist take on the two men’s journey in the original Hamlet. Focusing on these two minor characters, the director explores whether Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have free will and why they do as they are told. Notably, throughout the film, the men acknowledge their confusion as they repeatedly ponder what to do. Ultimately, however, they do nothing and let the events happen around them.
The most apparent point that emphasizes the characters’ lack of free will comes at the end of the film. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are about to be hanged, one of them laments that “there must have been a moment at the beginning when we could have said no. Somehow, we missed it” (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead). Another responds, “Well, we’ll know better next time,” – but the story will always be the same (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead). Like actors in a play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are bound to repeat the same fate, having no free will in this narrative.
Work Cited
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Directed by Tom Stoppard, Cinecom Pictures, 1990.