Comparative & Contrast: Hamlet & Guildenstern are Dead

Name: Course: Professor: Date: Comparative & Contrast Two Plays Mystery plays of the 15th and 16th centuries were different from the modern day theater plays. Theatre in the 15th century invoked a specific set of ideas that resonated with the happenings of the society like tragedies, romance, and understanding humanity. William Shakespeare comedies and tragic plays produced in the earlier centuries have influenced modern plays with most of them finding their origins from the medieval dramas. Shakespearean tragic comedies were centered on the human desire for love, their comedic pattern was a strategy used to show the decline and the fall of great heroes during his time. Modern plays follow similar themes and setting like the mystery plays of the 15th and 16th centuries. William Shakespeare is an outstanding play writer of the medieval times and all his plays revolved around love, death, and humanity, reflecting the societal happenings during his time. In his plays, Shakespeare major characters had flaws that result in their death. Williams Shakespeare's character flaws are a unique element in most of his plays that still resonate in modern day life. Shakespeare is one of the most influential literary figure whose plays had a major impact on many contemporary authors. This paper examines William Shakespeare character flaws in the play Hamlet comparing it with modern plays Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead a play written by Tom Stoppard to show how the plays were used to present modern social issues.The aim of the paper is to show that although play writers use similar themes and character structure, they also use other literary devices to present similar themes that resonate with modern day life. William Shakespeare is an outstanding play writer of the medieval times, in his plays, Shakespeare major characters have flaws that result in their death. For example, Hamlet's flaw is his indecisiveness. Hamlet doubts that his uncle Claudius killed his father, it is through his father’s ghost that pushes him to review the incident (Goldman 103). Hamlet's lack of commitment is evident in the play in his relationship with Ophelia which is one of his major flaws. By the time Hamlet reaches a conclusion about his father's death and wants to revenge, the long waiting leads to his death and that of his mother and Ophelia (Goldman 146). Modern play writers have used similar character structure and themes to address contemporary issues affecting the society. Stoppard 's play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” is a story with the same plot like William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, but Stoppard focus on two insignificant characters. Stoppard plays first appeared in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1966 and later produced in London in 1967. In the play, both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the major characters that enhance the plot. Stoppard uses two ordinary men who do not understand or cannot control their fate which is predetermined (Newman 48). Stoppard 's play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” present modern day issues using similar plot and characters from William Shakespearean tragic plays ,but he uses a Beckettian setting. Stoppard's play presents different angles, offering the complex mixture of modern-day themes using a unique presentation, to produce a tragic-comic play. Stoppard's play looks at events from a commoners’ point of view (Newman 33), which is different from the Shakespeare portrayal of his characters. Comparative analysis Several similarities are visible in these two plays; the first similarity being the character structure which seems to be parallel with each other. For example, Shakespeare uses a foil, which is characters that contrast to that person (Goldman 51). In the play the audience can easily note that Hamlet shows specific personality behaving differently from others when face with a similar situation. For example, Laertes and Fortinbras are Hamlet’s foil because they have a number of things in common, but respond in different ways when faced with a similar situation like Hamlet (Goldman 74). Such similar character structure has been used in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is Dead that focuses on the situation of two characters caught up in actions that eventually kills them without knowing why they are involved (Newman 49). In both plays, minor characters are constantly presented to enhance the storyline. Stoppard and Shakespeare use characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as a way of stimulating his plot, and also offers different interpretations to enhance their message (Newman 22). For example, in both plays, Hamlet by Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, King Claudius inquires form both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Wittenberg to understand Hamlet strange behavior (Newman 29)....