Marginalization in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Marginalization in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and
Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
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This blog post is part of thinking activity on Cultural Studies, Exploring Marginalization in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead given by Dilip Barad sir.
Teacher's Worksheet
In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are secondary characters who hold little power or significance on their own. Though they are childhood friends of Hamlet, they are ultimately manipulated by King Claudius, who uses them to spy on Hamlet. This reduces them to mere instruments of the king's will, rather than characters with their own independent roles. When Hamlet refers to Rosencrantz as a "sponge," he implies that Rosencrantz absorbs whatever instructions the king gives him, much like a sponge absorbs water. This metaphor highlights that Rosencrantz follow Claudius’s orders without question or independent thought. Hamlet suggests that once Claudius no longer needs them, he will simply "squeeze" them out and discard them, emphasizing their expendability. This illustrates the cutthroat, self-serving nature of the power dynamics within the court, where loyalty has little value, and individuals are treated as disposable once they’ve outlived their usefulness.
In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard shifts the spotlight onto two minor characters from Hamlet, highlighting their disorientation and quest for purpose. These characters wander through the play, bewildered, unsure of their roles or the reasons behind their actions. Stoppard uses their confusion to underscore a larger point: they are mere pawns in a grand narrative they neither comprehend nor influence. Their plight symbolizes the existential dilemma of being insignificant players in an overwhelming, unfathomable story.
This theme resonates strongly with the experience of many modern workers in today’s corporate environment. Employees often find themselves grappling with uncertainty about their roles, their place in the hierarchy, or the significance of their contributions. In large, impersonal organizations, it’s common to feel like a replaceable part in a massive, impersonal machine, where decisions are made by distant executives who rarely consider the individual. Much like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, these workers are left questioning their purpose, feeling powerless within a system that reduces them to mere components.
This feeling of powerlessness parallels the modern workplace. Imagine an employee in a large corporation who completes tasks without fully understanding their broader impact. They might ask, "Why am I doing this?" or "Does my work really matter?" In huge companies, where decisions are often made by higher-ups who are out of reach, it’s easy to feel like just a number. Much like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, these employees may feel like they are drifting through their roles without control, trapped in a system that sees them as replaceable.
Stoppard’s play captures the modern sense of alienation, illustrating how people can be swept up in vast systems they don’t control, mirroring the existential angst of living without clear direction or agency.
In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern serve King Claudius faithfully, but once they’re no longer useful, he abandons them without hesitation. This mirrors what often happens in today’s corporate world, particularly in large companies. When a multinational corporation relocates to another country or downsizes to cut costs, many dedicated workers lose their jobs despite years of loyalty and hard work.
Much like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who remain loyal yet lack real influence or security, these employees discover that their value is tied solely to the company’s financial goals. When profitability takes priority, workers can be discarded, leaving them feeling unimportant and unstable. This parallel highlights how powerful institutions—whether monarchies or corporations—sometimes prioritize their own interests over the well-being of the individuals who serve them.
In both Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, the themes of power and marginalization are central. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how powerful people use others for their own gain, while Stoppard’s play focuses on what it feels like to be powerless. By looking at these themes in both works, we see a clear criticism of systems that exploit or ignore those with little control.
In Hamlet, King Claudius holds most of the power. He uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s old friends, to spy on the prince. Instead of seeing them as important individuals, Claudius treats them as tools to achieve his goals. He pretends to trust them, but in reality, they are replaceable. They don’t have real influence in the court, showing how those in power can manipulate others for personal gain without considering their feelings or well-being. This becomes even clearer when Claudius orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to escort Hamlet to England, secretly planning to have Hamlet killed. They follow his commands without question, unaware of the deadly plot. In the end, they also meet their deaths, showing that those without power, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are easily sacrificed. Shakespeare’s play critiques a world where the powerful use and discard others without remorse.
In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stoppard expands on this idea by telling the story from the perspective of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Instead of being minor characters, they are at the center of the play, highlighting their confusion and helplessness. They don’t understand why they are in Elsinore or what their purpose is, and they feel lost as events unfold around them. Stoppard focuses on their struggle to find meaning in a world that doesn’t seem to care about them. They repeatedly question what is happening, but they never gain control. This shows how powerless they are, not just as characters in Hamlet, but as individuals searching for purpose in life. By focusing on their point of view, Stoppard highlights the experience of being small and insignificant in a larger system, something often overlooked in stories that focus on powerful characters. Both plays criticize systems that marginalize those without power. In Hamlet, the power dynamics are shown through Claudius’s manipulation, while in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stoppard explores how it feels to be powerless. Stoppard’s play is especially relevant today, as many people in modern workplaces feel like just another part of a large, impersonal system. Workers are often valued only for what they produce, not for who they are as individuals.
In the end, both Shakespeare and Stoppard reveal the darker side of power—the way it can use and discard people without recognizing their worth. By focusing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard gives us a unique, thought-provoking look at how larger systems can make people feel lost and unimportant in a world that seems indifferent.
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