Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Author: Tom Stoppard, a Czechoslovakian writer. He also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie form of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Setting:  A stage which Ros. and Guil. are confined to

Characters:

Rosencrantz is a character derived from Hamlet. He is generally not very smart. He does not notice when unlikely things happen and he does not seem concerned with understanding life, like his counterpart is. He often wants to play games and usually believes he is supposed to be playing them even when he is not. Many times, his goal is to make Guildenstern happy. At times, he recognizes there is an audience.

Guildenstern is also a characters derived from Hamlet. He is very much concerned with understanding life and has enough knowledge to know that certain things that are happening (like the coin coming up heads over ninety times in a row) should not be happening. He is usually unhappy and sometimes seeks comfort through interaction with Rosencrantz. He seems to know he is in a play various times throughout the piece. Before his death, he shows that he knows the play will restart again.

The Player is a very minor character derived from Hamlet. He seems to be the most aware that they are in a production and are acting. At times he recognizes and refers to the audience. He is also the leader of the Tragedians, a group of actors. Throughout the play, he gives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hints to their death and explains how all plays must end. He puts on a play (Hamlet) for the king, but it upsets him and he must leave. In the end, Guildenstern tries to kill him, but he just stands up again, displaying he is an actor.

Hamlet is derived from Hamlet. He seems aware that he is an actor and not actually Hamlet.

Also...King, Queen, Tragedians

Summary:

At the beginning, Ros. and Guil. are flipping coins, with the coin coming up heads every time. They realize they were awoken by a messenger to go to Denmark on the king’s orders. Both are still confused about what is happening, but Guil. continually tries to reason out what is happening to them.

Ros. and Guil. meet the Player and the Tragedians while on their journey to Elsinore. The Player offers the tragedians up for a performance (sexual) for money. Eventually Guil. recognizes what is happening and becomes curious, asking the Player questions. Guil makes several bets with the Player that the Player cannot win, and they end up flipping coins again, with the Player keeping his foot on the coin in the last round. The Tragedians leave with the Player and the coin is seen to be tails.

Ros. and Guil. find out that they are meant to figure out what is wrong with Hamlet. To pass time before seeing Hamlet, they play a few question games which Ros. wins most of. Finally they practice asking Hamlet questions, but Ros. just ends up confused and they never practice correctly.

They finally talk to Hamlet, but afterward Ros. claims that they got nothing out of him, claiming that he won the game of questions. Guil. claims they can say they made progress.

The Player and the Tragedians show up at Elsinore and are mad at Ros. and Guil. for leaving them in the woods where they were putting on a play for Ros. and Guil. The Player also drops hints of their fate and the fact that they will never understand life. The tragedians leave to prepare the play Hamlet has asked them to perform.

Ros. and Guil. witness a scene between Ophelia and Hamlet (not in play) before seeing the King and Queen again. They still are not able to understand why Hamlet is so upset.

The Tragedians put on a play (Hamlet) showing two actors dressed as Ros and Guil. dead. Neither Ros. and Guil. grasp that they will die soon too. Instead they are confused adn more conversations hold mixed up language.

Ros. and Guil. find out they must take Hamlet to England. They are unsure what will happen to them if they do take him and worry they will cease to exist/die.

Act 3 starts with Ros. and Guil. on a dark ship. They are unsure of where they are, but they figure out they are delivering a letter from the King and Hamlet to England. Their confusion continues, with the same conversations they have had a few times in the play.

While Ros. and Guil. are asleep, Hamlet switches the letters out. When Ros. and Guil. wake up, they realize that the Tragedians are also on the ship, and they all must hide when the pirates take the ship. Finally, Ros. and Guil. read the letter Hamlet put in the envelope and see they are going to die instead of Hamlet. Guil. is suddenly angry and more confused and tries to kill the Player, but he just pretends to die and then stand up again.

Ros. disappears, claiming he is relieved. Guil. says they will know better next time, displaying that he knows the play will just start over. The play ends with the last words from Hamlet.

Motifs:

death

control (free will/fate/providence)

existentialism

theatre of the absurd

language

art v. reality

games

memory

religion

fourth wall

duality (coin)

intertextuality

life as a stage

identity

homo eroticism

friendship

Theme Statement: Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead conveys that there are questions that not even writers have the answers to.

In the play, Stoppard presents many questions to the audience that he never answers, questions of free will and direction as well as life and death. Stoppard presents many options to these questions, though they all contradict each other.

On one hand:

Though Ros. and Guil. do not have any control over their own actions because they are written into existence, Stoppard emphasizes that art is not life. This distinction allows for the audience to see that in real life, people do have control. Even with control, death is the ultimate outcome that cannot be changed for all. This proposes another question of how much free will people have.

And on the other:

He is emphasizing the similarities in art and life through making the distinctions. If this is true, the people in the audience do not really have control over their actions but instead are just living a life of circumstance, where random things are happening. Then again, it could be that there is some force controlling life, as Stoppard is controlling Ros. and Guil.

Stoppard presents questions to the audience with several answers that cannot all be true, but are all possible conclusions. Still, he emphasizes that he does not have the answers and really no one does.

POV:

Many of the “characters” in the play, like the Player and Hamlet are aware they are in a play and know they are acting. Ros. and Guil. are also aware at times. They recognize the audience and see they are stuck in a script. The recognition of the audience makes parts more uncomfortable.

Tone:

Many parts of the play have a mocking tone, of the audience and Shakespeare/writers in general. Still, other parts focus on the comedy of the piece and are upbeat or are so uncomfortable they are funny. Other parts convey a more tragic tone, with Guil’s need to understand life and the lack of control Ros and Guil have.

Imagery:

Throughout the play, the main forms of imagery come in the mentions of death as well as the mentions of duality through coins. Many times, Ros. specifically postulates on death and what it will be like, once describing laying in a box (coffin) both dead and alive. But, in the end, their deaths are simple and they just disappear.

There are common mention of things (like the audience and performers) being two sides of the same coin. This imagery puts the idea that the audience and performers (Ros/Guil; Death/Life) are the same. The audience is forced to recognize their stake and involvement in selling and buying and see Ros and Guil as one being.

Language:

Both Ros. and Guil. experience a confusion of language where they are not able to articulate what they mean at a given time. They confuse themselves and what they are trying to say. This displays their need for each other as well as their inability to understand their situation entirely. It also displays a Theatre of the Absurd concept that language is an insufficient way to communicate, though it is all we have.

Symbolism:

Coin- displays duality (Ros/Guil; life/death; audience/performers); shows that they are not acting in the confines of the real world (heads so many times in a row)

Boat- representation of life; can we control the boat, move on it? (free will, how much?)

Letter- no control over over death...do not decide when or where or how

Boxes- representation of cultural and personal confines; representation of death with Ros discussion of coffins

Quotes:

“Well, we’ll know better next time” (126)

This is a quote from Guil that comes right before his death. It displays that he is aware he is in a play and knows that they will both come back even though they died. It also conveys a hope that he will understand more the next time, though the audience is aware the play will happen the same way and he will never fully understand, which is what makes the play tragic. Though Guil believes he understands what is happening at the end of the play, he could never fully understand and he will not get to keep that knowledge.

“We are entitled to some direction...I would have thought.” (20)

This is another of Guil’s quotes and comes at the very beginning of the play. The interesting thing is that Ros. and Guil. do have direction from the Player. He tries to explain to them that the play will end in their death no matter what, but they do not catch on. Again, this question is thrown back to the audience. Are we entitled to some direction? How much? What exactly is direction? All the questions are forced upon the audience and they mean different things for Ros. and Guil. At one point in the play, they are contemplating actual directions (NSEW) in a very comical way, showing that they do not even know what direction is for them.