Question

Read the excerpts from Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. How does Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead use Claudius’s speech from Hamlet?

a) As an expression of Claudius’s concern for Hamlet’s situation, highlighting their close relationship.
b) As a set of instructions rather than an expression of concern, highlighting the characters’ insincerity to Hamlet.
c) As an expression of Claudius’s concern for Hamlet’s situation, highlighting how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can help their friend.
d) As a set of instructions rather than an expression of concern, highlighting how much direction Rosencrantz and Guildenstern need.

Answer 1

Claudius's speech in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is used as a set of instructions highlighting the insincerity and manipulation of Hamlet's supposed friends, mirroring the espionage culture in Elizabethan times and in Shakespeare's play.

Step-by-step explanation:

Tom Stoppard's Guildenstern are Dead uses Claudius’s speech from William Shakespeare's Hamlet as a set of instructions rather than as an expression of concern, emphasizing the characters’ insincerity towards Hamlet. This highlights the manipulative use of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern by Claudius to spy on Hamlet and the lack of a genuine relationship between them. Stoppard’s play acts as a commentary on the themes of manipulation and power present in Shakespeare’s original work, reflecting the espionage and suspicion that characters exhibit towards each other, and by extension, the critique of Elizabethan spy culture.