Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is the screen adaptation of the play with the same title written by Tom Stoppard. The author is also the director of the 1990 film starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. Depending on the personal point-of-view, the film can be seen as a comedy or a drama. However, taking into account the fact that the subject of the adaptation is in essence rather complex it is a drama expressed through a comedy approach.

The film is based on the 1960s play in which the action of William Shakespeare's Hamlet is viewed from the perspective of two almost insignificant characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The play was first staged in London, with an enormous success. Despite the fact that the author was also the director of the film, it did not enjoy the same reviews. Nonetheless, the structure of the film and the idea behind it represented an important incentive for movie goers.

The action of the film, to a large extent, revolves around the Castle of Elsinore, the residence of Hamlet and of the Danish king. The plot is rather simple and thus the action features a landscape without an abundance of details. The characters are quickly introduced as they are pictured flipping coins in Rosencrantz's enjoyment for his winning record. The two characters are rather limited in their features as they do not represent an important element for the overall image of the film.

Their main characteristic is related to the role they played in Shakespeare's play that is of secondary characters. However it is precisely this feature that made the original play of Tom Stoppard interesting and this message tried to be conveyed in the film as well. The film is not based on other particular appearances, aside from the Player, starring Richard Dreyfuss. Aside from the three, there is a band of tragedians that accompany them. Still, their role will be simply symbolic.

The plot is relatively simple, due to the fact that the accent lies on the conversations, or the lack of conversation, between the two. They have been called by the King of Denmark to inquire on the issues affecting Hamlet. In their trip, they come across the Player and his band of tragedians, before being sent to retrieve the body of Polonius and ultimately to come back to England with Hamlet. However, on the way, they come across a letter demanding the killing of Hamlet.

Still, before taking any action, the letter is replaced by Hamlet with another one requesting their death. In the end, the two characters find their tragic end. Although the plot is rather simplistic, the message behind these ideas is relevant for the artistic outcome of the film. First and foremost, it is a film about the human condition and its insignificant role in the universe. The two characters are subject to fate and to the impossibility of choice. They cannot decide for their own on the course of their life.

The continuous flipping of the coin is relevant in this sense, as the two, while waiting for the decision on their future endeavors, flip the coin with the same result. It can be interpreted as fate, that independent of the actions they take, the eventual end is the same. Death is perceived as the ultimate destination for the human kind.

At the same time, the idea of death is an intrinsic thought, as Rosencrantz ponders "Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it. It never occured to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it.

Before we know that there are words." Thus, the author of the play and the director of the film tried to point out the inevitability of death and the irrelevance of humans in the framework of the universe. Secondly, the approach of the film tried to underline the different perspective an event can be looked at. Indeed, the story of the play and film is related to the Shakespearian creation. Yet, the perspective on the events is that of two insignificant characters in the wider play.

An analogy could be made with the human.