Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview... philosopher, show-off, and spectator in someone else's play. Guildenstern is all of these, but most of all, he is Rosencrantz's best friend. Well, sort of; Guil can be awfully mean to his long-suffering companion and supposed friend. Still, when you're drifting between medieval Denmark, surreal stages, and doomed boats, a forced personality is something that's good to have.
Personality... philosophical, caustic, and just a little full of himself. Guildenstern loves to talk, and there's no better listener than Rosencrantz, who's always around to listen to his friend's brilliant ideas. But for all his prancing, Guil is more of a talker than a doer, and his crippling fear of death doesn't bode well for his future.
Get to Know him in...
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Two minor characters from the play, "Hamlet" stumble around unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate from them.
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play which, as it were, takes place in the wings of Hamlet, and finds both humour and poignancy in the situation of the ill-fated attendant lords. The National Theatre production in April 1967 made Tom Stoppard's reputation virtually overnight. Its wit, stagecraft and verbal verve remain as exhilarating as they were then and the play has become a contemporary classic. 'One of the most original and engaging of post-war plays.' Daily Telegraph
