Comparison Essay

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a tragic comedy by Tom Stoppard, which focuses on the adventures of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. The Rover also known as The Banish'd Cavaliers, is a romantic or restoration comedy by Aphra Behn, about a rakish naval captain, who falls in love with a young woman, who plans on marrying him. Although both these plays are comedies, there are significant differences in the theme, style, setting, and the whole feel they give an audience.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play centered on a theme which tries to explain the basic mysteries of the world. Our two main characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, find themselves in almost the entirety of the play, in confusion, and lacking basic knowledge, for example, their identities. The play starts off with our two heroes unable to remember their destination, the purpose for their journey, and a constant misunderstanding and confusion of the world around them. This constant confusion and lack of understanding results in the demise of our heroes.

The Rover is a play with a theme centralizing on romance and relationships of the 17th Century. The play has many main characters, who are all in their own way looking for love. This pursuit of love or the perfect other, brings about many challenges, misunderstandings, and adventures. Two of the main characters, Hellena and the rover, Willmore, with very different and contrasting ideas of love and relationship, see off the ending of the play, by getting together. The differences in each character’s ideas and demeanors, causes many mishaps, misfortunes, and blunders throughout the play.

Both plays give a comedic effect throughout, and hence both audiences get to indulg...

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...e. This is by no means the traditional ending to a comedy, but rather a tragedy. Despite this, it takes nothing away from the comedic experience of joy and laughter. On the other hand, the Rover, ends happily with our main characters getting together with their true love. This led to one being classified as a tragic comedy and the other being classified as a romantic comedy. But despite their differences, any fan of comedy can enjoy both equally as much.

The differences of these two plays, gives one a sense that any general idea can be broken into a distinct one and not sway away from its intended idea. This means, a comedy can be made into a tragedy, romance, and other themes, and yet still maintain the purpose of providing laughter to the audience. This shows the development of literature over the years, as many more subcategories result because of the contrasts.