Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Action Summary
Act Three
Pp.71 - 80: Ros and Guil on board ship. Can't see because it's dark; talk of sensation- once again cofusion over identity (Ros pinches Guil's leg - thinking it's his own).
They realise they're on board a ship and wonder where the ship is - where they're heading, whether the ship is on course.
Hamlet's presence established.
Guil's speech about being on a boat the lead-in for his statement of their mission (p.74); some re-establishment of a sense of purpose and security which evaporates as they notice the sleeping Hamlet.
Panic, paranoia again which they attempt to resolve by gambling on a coin once again. It's revealed that Ros has been cheating himself to make Guil feel better.
They discuss how much money they've been paid, which leads in to a discussion of what they'll do when they get to England.
They search for the letter - it is eventually found after some agitation. Ros tries to visualise their future once they get to England - can't (p.78).
Conversation turns to death again.
In their uncertainty Ros and Guil rehearse the scene once they get to England - it becomes a parody of comic misunderstanding under the pressure of which Ros opens the letter and reads it. (p.80) pp80-83.
Ros and Guil debate morality versus pragmatism. Ironically their speeches echo many of the speeches on death in Hamlet - that it is inevitable anyway so why not leave Hamlet to his fate? (Guil) - c.f. 'There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow...' on the other hand, 'It's awful.' (Ros) - c.f. the latter half of 'To be, or not to be...' Guil's line 'But it could have been worse.' wins the day.
In another Hamlet pastiche Ros outlines the position as if they did not know what the letter contained. But his speeches are separated by Hamlet taking and returning the letter as per Hamlet , so the whole exchange neatly points out the moral ironies.
pp83- : Re-appearance of the players out of their barrels. Guil's speech about being without boundaries (p.85) - free to improvise .
Ros and Guil describe Hamlet's character in a pastiche of lines and phrases from the play. Perhaps Ros and Guil are feeling fairly confident at the moment, believing they know where they stand. As usual their confidence seems to fail, however - perhaps as they remember Hamlet's fate in the letter and are uneasy.
The pirates - Hamlet's escape which creates a new dilemma for Ros and Guil - what are they going to do without Hamlet?
Once again they role-play their arrival in England and their explanations (exposed as totally inadequate) to the English King, which leads to:
(p.89) the re-opening of the letter and the discovery of their fate.
Their appalled reaction - as the bit players, the chance victims of machinations far greater than they. (GUIL: No - it is not enough. To be told so little - to such an end - and still, finally, to be denied an explanation...) Enraged, Guil 'kills' the Player, who comes back to life - to great applause, even from Ros.
The final scene of Hamlet is mimed - with the addition of the deaths of Ros and Guil as the two 'spies' - accompanied by the Player's speech about how 'common' death is (p.91) (c.f 'Thou knowest 'tis common - all that lives must die'...).
Guil protests; meditates on death - the nothingness of it.
Ros contemplates the possibility of violating theatrical convention and just staying on in the scene - not 'dying'... he realises that he can't do this.
Laments the injustice of it all, but then pronounces that he's relieved.
Guil's final speech harps on the theme of necessity and freedom of choice - our lack of foreknowledge being the crucial element in our fate 'there must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said - no. But somehow we missed it.'
He exits on a comic, even vaudeville note, however - 'Well, we'll know better next time. Now you see me, now you - '
Play ends with Hamlet - the Ambassador and Horatio - fadeout.
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