Monday, November 11, 2024

Cultural Studies - Worksheet on Hamlet

Exploring Marginalization in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

This blog post is part of thinking activity on Cultural StudiesExploring Marginalization in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead given by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English, MKBU. 

Teacher's Worksheet

Marginalization

In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are marginal or side characters who don’t have much power or influence of their own. They’re old friends of Hamlet, but they get used by King Claudius, who sends them to spy on Hamlet. This makes them more like tools for the king’s purpose than important characters in their own right.

When Hamlet calls Rosencrantz a “sponge,” he’s saying that Rosencrantz soaks up whatever the king tells him to, like a sponge soaks up water. This metaphor shows that Rosencrantz (and Guildenstern too) are willing to follow the king's orders without thinking for themselves. However, Hamlet hints that the king will just “squeeze” them out and throw them away when he no longer needs them. This reflects how they are expendable—they’re only valued as long as they’re useful to Claudius, and once they’ve served their purpose, they’re easily discarded. This shows the harsh, self-serving power dynamics in the court, where loyalty is often meaningless and people are treated as disposable.

Modern Parallels to Corporate Power

In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by King Claudius for his own interests, but once they’re no longer helpful, he discards them without concern. This is similar to what sometimes happens in modern workplaces, especially with big corporations. When a multinational company moves its operations to another country or decides to downsize, many workers lose their jobs even though they were loyal and worked hard for the company.

Just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are loyal to Claudius but ultimately have no real power or security, these workers often find that they’re valued only when they’re useful to the company’s profits. When companies relocate or cut costs, employees are often left feeling displaced, without the stability they might have expected. This comparison shows how powerful organizations—whether royal or corporate—can sometimes treat individuals as replaceable, focusing more on their own interests than on the loyalty or contributions of those who work for them.

Existential Questions in Stoppard’s Re-interpretation

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard takes two minor characters from Hamlet and focuses on their confusion and search for meaning. They’re often lost, not fully understanding why they’re there or what they’re supposed to do. Stoppard emphasizes their search for meaning to show that they’re just small, insignificant figures in a much bigger story—one they can’t control or even understand. This idea of feeling unimportant and powerless in a confusing world relates to how many people feel in modern workplaces.

In today’s corporate world, employees can often feel like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: they might feel uncertain about their role, where they fit in, or what their work really means. In large companies, it’s easy to feel like just another “cog in the machine,” with decisions made by distant managers who don’t know or understand the individual workers. Just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, workers might question their purpose and feel powerless in systems that treat them as replaceable. Stoppard’s play taps into this modern sense of being part of something bigger but not really having control over it.

Cultural and Economic Power Structures

In Hamlet, Shakespeare shows a world where those in power, like King Claudius, use people for their own gain, often without caring about their well-being. Claudius uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as spies, showing that he values them only when they’re useful to him. This treatment reveals a system that ignores or harms “little people” to maintain power, as those at the top control the lives of others with little empathy or fairness.

Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead takes this idea further by showing how these “little people” feel lost, confused, and powerless. They don’t fully understand why they’re caught up in the events of Hamlet and question their purpose. Stoppard’s existential approach highlights that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not just ignored by powerful figures; they’re also struggling to find meaning in a world that seems indifferent to them. This mirrors how many people today feel in large corporations: they might feel insecure about their jobs, replaceable, and uncertain of their purpose, especially when decisions that affect their lives are made by distant executives.

Stoppard’s play speaks to modern issues like job insecurity and corporate control, where workers sometimes feel like just numbers in a system that doesn’t value them as individuals. Both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead critique systems that treat people as expendable, but Stoppard adds a layer of existential questioning, making his take especially relevant in today’s corporate world.

Personal Reflection 

The marginalization of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet—how they’re used and discarded—highlights the feeling of being seen as a dispensable “asset.” This idea feels very relevant today, especially in workplaces where employees might feel like they’re valued only for what they can deliver, not for who they are. Just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, many workers face uncertainty, knowing they might be let go whenever it suits a larger plan.

Seeing this treatment in Hamlet and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead helps me understand Cultural Studies in a deeper way. Cultural Studies often looks at how people are affected by larger social, political, and economic forces. Here, I see how those with power (like Claudius) shape the lives of “little people” who don’t have much control over their circumstances. It’s a reminder of how systems, whether political or corporate, can create power dynamics that treat people as replaceable. 

These parallels shape my understanding of how power dynamics impact real lives, especially in a world where globalization and corporate interests often prioritize profit over people. It’s a lesson in the importance of questioning these structures and recognizing the experiences of those who may feel marginalized, invisible, or undervalued in the larger systems of our society.

Creative Engagement 


Comparative Analysis

In both Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, themes of power and marginalization are central. Hamlet explores the way powerful figures use and discard others, while Stoppard’s play dives deeper into the experience of two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are caught in a world where they have little control or purpose. By examining these themes in both works, we see a strong critique of power structures that ignore or harm those on the fringes.

In Hamlet, power is largely held by King Claudius, who uses his authority to manipulate and control others. Claudius uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, old friends of Hamlet, to spy on the prince. They are brought into the royal court not as individuals with real influence, but as tools to serve Claudius’s purpose. Claudius pretends to trust them, but he sees them as easily replaceable. They don’t have any real power in the court and are used only to gather information for the king. This shows how those in power can manipulate relationships for their own goals, often at the expense of others.

This manipulation becomes even more apparent when Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to deliver Hamlet to England, where he secretly plans to have Hamlet killed. They don’t question their orders and blindly follow what Claudius commands, unaware of his deadly intentions. By the time they realize what’s happening, it’s too late—they, too, meet their deaths. This reveals the harsh reality of power in Hamlet: those without real influence, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are ultimately expendable. Shakespeare’s play critiques a system where the powerful can use and discard others without guilt, revealing how these structures often disregard individuals who lack authority.

Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead builds on this critique by exploring the experience of marginalization from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s perspective. Instead of showing them as just side characters in Hamlet’s story, Stoppard gives them their own play, highlighting their confusion and helplessness in a world they don’t understand. Throughout the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern struggle to find meaning and purpose in their roles. They have no real knowledge of why they’re in Elsinore, and they seem lost and confused as events unfold around them.

Stoppard emphasizes their existential struggle, making them question their own purpose in the play and in life. This gives a deeper meaning to their marginalization: they are not just side characters in a royal power struggle, but people searching for purpose in a world that doesn’t seem to care about them. Their powerlessness becomes clear as they repeatedly try to understand what’s happening, only to be dragged along by forces beyond their control. By focusing on their perspective, Stoppard shows us the experience of feeling small and unimportant in a larger system—something that’s often overlooked in stories focused on powerful figures.

In both plays, then, we see a critique of systems that marginalize those without power. In Hamlet, power dynamics are shown through the way Claudius uses people as tools, while in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stoppard highlights how powerless and insignificant they feel. This shift in focus from the powerful to the powerless makes Stoppard’s play especially relevant to modern ideas about power, where many people feel like just another cog in a large, impersonal system. Today’s world has parallels with this, especially in corporate environments, where workers may feel marginalized or expendable, valued only for their output and not for who they are.

In the end, both Shakespeare and Stoppard expose the darker side of power: its ability to ignore, use, and discard people without acknowledging their individual worth. By focusing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard shows us the experience of marginalization in a unique, thought-provoking way, highlighting how larger systems can devalue people and leave them feeling lost in a world that doesn’t seem to care.

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