Dumb and Dumberer: when Rozy met Guildy
"We've done nothing wrong! We didn't harm anyone!" -Ros to Guil, page 125, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
First of all, Hamlet has been knocked down quite a few pegs in my book.He somewhat heartless to me now. R and G are kind of bumbling oafs. For God's sake, they forget where they are and what they are doing half of the time. They are near completely clueless. They can't even remember their own names at times! These poor men, having no control over what was happening to them. I can't even imagine how Stoppard came up with this idea. R and G were used as pawns in Hamlet's chess game of revenge (yes, I know that's sort of a lame analogy). They did nothing to deserve such a fate. (And I really mean nothing...they were confused most of the play).
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Jennifer Prex on Dumb and Dumberer: when Rozy met Guildy: I agree, Dani. The way Stoppar
Dennis G. Jerz on Dumb and Dumberer: when Rozy met Guildy: If we presume a moral framewor
If we presume a moral framework to life, is it sufficient merely to do nothing wrong? What does that say about us if we expect that doing nothing at all ought to excuse (preserve, save) these two likeable but ineffective nobodies?
I agree, Dani. The way Stoppard portrays these characters definitely makes Hamlet seem much more manipulative and horrible.
I think that was a large part of the point. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had a very minor part in Hamlet and there wasn't any real reason for them to die. Hamlet completely overlooks that, he doesn't even really mention that he caused his friends' deaths. I think that is what Stoppard was trying to get across. As he has Guildenstern say, "We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered."