Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Transformations

In Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy Hamlet, the central characters innocent mind is corrupted by the evils of those around him. The tragedy of his death reflects the context’s focus on the path and dilemmas of a high bearing Elizabethan man who has a set purpose and predetermined fate. In comparison Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead reflects and arouses sympathy for the roles of ordinary people shown through the inversion of character focus and beliefs, as well as reflecting contemporary existential beliefs and changed ideologies such as a lack of spiritual awareness.

Texts are transformed to reflect the changing beliefs and ideologies of a particular context in comparison to past beliefs. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead confronts and challenges values held in social, cultural and historical context of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while paying homage to and perpetuating ideas which retain significance and value to a modern responders. It is through the compa...