The document is a 6-page paper analyzing power relationships in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. It discusses how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are serving King Claudius and helping to manipulate Hamlet. Rosencrantz delivers a speech about how the life of the king impacts many others, as when a king falls it causes damage to the political system and other people connected to him. The paper also notes that Shakespeare's works reflect the power struggles of his Elizabethan culture and time period.

1. Cultural studies in practice:HemletName-Bhatt Dhara JanakkumarRoll No-02Paper -10M.A Sem-02 Page -1

2. In several instances earlier in this chapter we noted the cultural and new historical emphases on power relationships.We noted that cultural critics assume “oppositional” roles in terms of power structure. the meaning of their names hardly match what seems to be the essence their characters. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are from the Dutch –German: literally , ‘garland of roses’ and ‘ golden star’.The individuality of the characters they label.Page 2

3. Shortly after the play, Claudius is taking privately with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's fellow students from Wittenberg.In response to Claudius's plan to send hamlet to England, Rosencrantz deliver –is both an excellent set of metaphors and a summation of the Elizabethan concept of the role and power of kingship: Page 3

4. Rosencrantz delivers speech The singular and peculiar life is boundWith all the strength and armor of the mind To keep itself from noyance,but much more That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests The lives of many, the cease of majestyDies not alone, but like a gulf doth drawWhat’s near it with it, it is a massy wheelFixed on the summits of the highest mount,To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser thing Are mortised and adjoined; which, when it falls,Each small annexment ,petty consequence,Attends the boisterous ruin ,Never alone Did the king sigh but with a general. Page 4

5. A generation later, another king Charles 1,would also be beheaded with historical action such as these, we can understand why Shakespeare's work incorporates power struggles.Shakespeare’s culture by thinking not about kings and princes but about the lesser persons caught up in the massive oppositions.It is instructive to note that reality of power reflective of Shakespeare's time might in another time and in another culture reflects radically different worldview. Page 5

6. Thank youPage 6