YMMV / Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The show could very well be one never-ending exercise of alternative character for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. From a couple of not-that-bright and sycophantic extras that nobody can tell apart, we get two men who are inquisitive, intelligent (in different ways), passionate, and in way over their heads.
  • Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never see or hear the scenes that reveal the method in Hamlet's madness, Hamlet seems particularly crazy in this version of the story.
  • Is Guildenstern right about there being a moment where they could have said no? After all, they could have chosen not to proceed with the king's mission after finding out that they were essentially sending Hamlet to die, but they chose to do nothing. On the other hand, since they're only characters in a play, it could be that they had no choice but to go along because the script said so.
    • Another interpretation is that this moment came at the beginning when they chose to respond to the herald's call and come out on stage.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • This story single-handedly turned Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into this for the original play. Many performances of Hamlet now include the duo as major characters (whereas previously they often used to be cut for being yet another set of minor characters), and they're arguably more popular and well-known than all the other characters other than Hamlet himself.
  • The play is occasionally even run back-to-back with Hamlet by some theatrical companies, who use the same actors for the same characters in each play. And even when they are not running the plays together, their appearances in Hamlet are sometimes staged to include in-jokes from the Stoppard play — such as having them enter flipping a coin, or Claudius accidentally calling them by each other's names and being corrected by Gertrude.
  • Within the play itself, The Player is without a doubt the most striking character aside from Rosencrantz and Guidenstern with his metafictional speeches and memorable quotes ("Blood is compulsory", "Deaths for all ages!", "We are actors! We're the opposite of people").
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • In the film, after Hamlet humiliated Ophelia yet again, Alfred can be seen comforting her.
  • After Guildenstern has exploded at Rosencrantz (again), this happens:
  ROS (humbly): It must be your dominant personality. (Almost in tears.) Oh, what's going to become of us!
  (And GUIL comforts him, all harshness gone.)
  GUIL: Don't cry... it's all right... there... there, I'll see we're all right.
  • Also, in the play:
    GUIL taps a hand, changes his mind, taps the other, and ROS inadvertently reveals that he has a coin in both fists.
    GUIL: You had money in both hands.
    ROS (embarrassed): Yes.
    GUIL: Every time?
    ROS: Yes.
    GUIL: What's the point of that?
    ROS (pathetic): I wanted to make you happy.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • At one point in the movie, a theater actor wakes up with a horse mask on his head. Looks familiar...
  • The "I've not been on boats" exchange, up to and including the fact that "We're on a boat" is flat out said, brings a certain Internet meme to mind.
• Ho Yay:
  • There was a messenger. They were sent for. They woke up... together.
  • It's a cold, rainy, Northern European country ... during the Little Ice Age. There's a reason the "Xdogs night" term was coined.
  • Guildenstern giving Rosencrantz a cuddle to cheer him up.
    GUIL: Don't cry... it's all right... there... there, I'll see we're all right.
  • The fact that their every conversation (that is not existential musings) makes them sound Like an Old Married Couple.
    ROS: Rhetoric! Game and match! (Pause.) Where's it going to end?
    GUIL: That's the question.
    ROS: It's all questions.
    GUIL: Do you think it matters?
    ROS: Doesn't it matter to you?
    GUIL: Why should it matter?
    ROS: What does it matter why?
    GUIL (teasing gently): Doesn't it matter why it matters?
    ROS: (rounding on him): What's the matter with you?
    (Pause.)
    GUIL: It doesn't matter.
  • The film especially accentuates this trope, with Rosencrantz constantly tugging on Guildenstern's arm, trying to get his attention, agreeing with everything he says, draping his arm around him, etc.
  • The play actually has more moments of these that didn't make it into the film.
    • They talk of home like they're living together:
      ROS: I want to go home.
      GUIL: Don't let them confuse you.
      ROS: I'm out of my step here –
      GUIL: We'll soon be home and high – dry and home – I'll –
      ROS: It's all over my depth –
      GUIL: I'll hie you home and –
      ROS: – out of my head –
      GUIL: – dry you high and –
    • When they're trying to establish the direction of the wind:
      GUIL: In that case, the origin. Trace it to its source and it might give us a rough idea of the way we came in – which might give us a rough idea of south, for further reference.
      ROS: It's coming up through the floor. (He studies the floor.) That can't be south, can it?
      GUIL: That's not a direction. Lick your toe and wave it around a bit.
      (ROS considers the distance of his foot.)
      ROS: No, I think you'd have to lick it for me.
      Pause.
      GUIL: I'm prepared to let the whole matter drop.
      ROS: Or I could lick yours, of course.
      GUIL: No thank you.
      ROS: I'll even wave it around for you.
      GUIL (down ROS's throat): What in God's name is the matter with you?
      ROS: Just being friendly.
    • This exchange that takes place on the ship bound for England:
      ROS: Well, shall we stretch our legs?
      GUIL: I don't feel like stretching my legs.
      ROS: I'll stretch them for you, if you like.
      GUIL: No.
      ROS: We could stretch each other's. That way we wouldn't have to go anywhere.
      GUIL (pause): No, somebody might come in.
  • Really, it's not surprising given the characters these two were based on.
  • Rosencrantz only begins to show interest in the Player's offer of "participation" after it's been revealed that the entire troupe of Tragedians are male. (Not to mention that his reaction in the bathhouse scene is ambiguous as to whether he's disturbed at having mistaken Alfred for a woman, or whether he knew all along and is simply embarrassed to have been caught looking.)
    • Actually, Alfred was introduced as "transvestite melodrama" right at the start, so Rosencrantz knows that Alfred's not a woman. Rosencrantz became interested only after he realised exactly what the Player was offering them. The character notes in the play clarifies:
    PLAYER: Now what precisely is your pleasure? (He turns to the TRAGEDIANS.) Gentlemen, disport yourselves. (The TRAGEDIANS shuffle into some kind of line.) There! See anything you like?
    ROS (doubtful, innocent): What do they do?
    PLAYER: Let your imagination run riot. They are beyond surprise.
    • And when he finally gets it:
    ROS (his voice has changed; he has caught on): Excuse me! You're not – ah – exclusively players, then?
• Jerkass Woobie: Guildenstern smashes Rosencrantz and breaks down after losing Hamlet to the pirates.
• Signature Scene: The coin-flipping scene.
  • Also, the "Playing at Questions" scene.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "There must have been a moment... at the beginning, when we could have said "no." Somehow we missed it. Well... we'll know better next time." They won't.
  • When they learn they're to be killed instead, the two panic about how they could be so important for this to happen.
  Guildenstern: But why? Was it all for this? Who are we that so much should converge on our little deaths? Who are we?
  PLAYER: You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That's enough.
  Guildenstern: No — it is not enough. To be told so little — to such an end — and still, finally, to be denied an explanation...

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