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

This blog is written as a task assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad. The blog is on Cultural Studies in which marginalized characters are seen as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and through the lens of 'Hamlet'. For further info visit following article.  Teacher's Blog

 1. Marginalization in Hamlet

Describe how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern represent marginal figures in Hamlet. How does Hamlet’s reference to Rosencrantz as a “sponge” reflect their expendability in the power dynamics of the play?

Ans:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the marginalised character from the Shakkesspeare’s play Hamlet. When Claudeus sees Hamlet as a threat he sends him to Engloand with the letter that says that when he reached there he should be killed. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were also sent with him so can not reach but in the mid journey Hamlet gets to know the truth and he writes the name of t Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the letter so they are killed in England. Ald when fights and the message comes from England that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. 

These two belonged to a marginalised community who work for the authority and they are dead without any mistakes. In the journey there is a conversation there Hamlet Calls them Sponge and pawns. 

"Hamlet: . . . Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! What replication should be made by the son of a king?

Rosencrantz: Take you me for a sponge, my lord?

Hamlet: Aye, sir, that soaks up the King's countenance,his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed, to be last swallowed."

This shows how they are treated by powerful people. The same situation can be seen in the context of contemporary time also. Politicians and Businessmen are exploiting the poor and middle class people. They are also treated the same as Rosengrent and Gulden stan are treated in the play.  

2. Modern Parallels to Corporate Power

The passage compares Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to modern workers impacted by corporate downsizing and globalisation. Reflect on this parallel: How does their fate in Hamlet mirror the displacement

experienced by workers when multinational companies relocate or

Downsize?

Ans. 

In the corporate sector all the workers are exploited. They have to work real hard and in return they also get very less salary. They are mere puppets of the corporation who work for them. Not a minimum salary decided by the government is given to the employees. More and more privatisation of various government sectors are being done in which private companies only work to make a profit. They don’t think about their employees. 

Whenever the employees are unwanted they are fired from the companies. In the work like ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsid Hamid gives insight of the same. In which there is shown a reality of the corporate people and how for the business and profit purposes the people are downsized from the multinational companies. The whole market or corporation is all about profit. The focus is all on the capital rather than human welfare. 

3. Existential Questions in Stoppard’s Re-interpretation

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Stoppard deepens their

marginalisation by questioning their existence and purpose. Why might

Stoppard emphasise their search for meaning in a world indifferent to

them? How does this mirror the feeling of powerlessness in today’s

corporate environments?

Ans.

When Hamlet says that “they were not near my conscience” shows his indifference towards the marginalised community, the same is with today’s corporate  world the employees are not near the conscience of the owner of the company. When everyone is dead and the message that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead show that there is no one that would hear the news of the dead also.

Same with the contemporary workers if they are dead or alive how they manage to work and how much they should be paid is totally neglected in the corporate world. This shows that even the death of these employees can not make the corporate owners understand the situation of the subalterns. That is why Stoppard has reinterpreted the whole narrative and questioned the authority. 

4. Cultural and Economic Power Structures

Compare Shakespeare’s treatment of power in Hamlet to Stoppard’s

reimagining. How does each work critique systems that marginalise

“little people”? How might Stoppard’s existential take resonate with

contemporary issues of job insecurity and corporate control?

Ans.

In today's corporate world there is too little care taken by the employees in most corporations. They are treated as animals who work for them.  As we have discussed earlier, there are too few jobs available in the government sections. And now corporate and governments work together so the marginalised only have to suffer the conce3quincs.

Because the government receives funds from the corporate to run the propaganda campaigns, so whenever any policies are made it would be in the favour of corporations only. They work together and do fraud with the peasant class people. In the private sector when people get aged and unable to work they have to leave the company without any pension and payment. Employees give their whole life to grow the company and when they are unable to work they are off the companies. Nowadays the government is not giving that much amount of jobs to the citizens so they have to work in the private sector with all the exploitation. 

5. Personal Reflection

How does the marginalisation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in

Hamlet relate to the modern experience of being seen as a dispensable

“asset”? Reflect on how these parallels shape your understanding of

Cultural Studies and power dynamics.

Ans. 

In the power dynamics of Hamlet and his uncle Claudius Rosengton and Guildenstern are killed, they are used as dispensable “assets”, who are used until they are dead. In the same manner one can see that in the corporations the employees are used to work there their whole life and at the end when they are unable to in the corporation they are sent off. 

When they are young they are used  as an asset and when they are no longer in use they throw them out from the company they have given so many years of their life. These show the monopoly of the corporates and utilitarian concept of taking work. 

Words: 1011