Summary:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in the wilderness traveling. To pass time, they flip coin and and each time it lands on heads. Guildenstern decides to analyze the situation as he questions the law of probability. They meet a group of actors traveling who are known as the Tragedians. Then the scene changes to Elsinore where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are watching scenes that we have already read in Hamlet.
After Hamlet kills Polonius, he is put on a ship to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are supposed to be turning in Hamlet however while they are sleeping Hamlet switches the letters. The switched letter says that they will be turning themselves over instead of Hamlet. Once the pirates attacked, Hamlet flees. The Tragedians reappear to act out different types of death, and then Rosencrantz and Guildenstern realize they are going to die soon.
Author:
Tom Stoppard is a British playwright who was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1937. Stoppard and his family fled Czechoslovakia as refugees and he went on to become successful. He co-wrote the screen plays for Brazil and Shakepeare in Love.
Setting:
This play has the same setting in Hamlet since these stories are intertwined. It takes place in the forest and soon they make their way into Elsinore. And lastly, they end up in England.
Characters:
- Rosencrantz: Hamlet's childhood friend who is summoned to find the reason for Hamlet's lunacy along with Guildenstern. He is the dumber of the two.
- Guildenstern: Hamlet's childhood friend who is summoned to find the reason for Hamlet's lunacy along with Rosencrantz. He is the "smarter" of the two.
- The Player: Leader of the Tragedians. He acts like he knows more than he actually does and he travels in group with his actors.
Author's Style:
Each character has their own style of talking. Many of the actions are given in the stage directions.
Important Quotes:
"Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in."
Serves as a parallel to real life and acting. This suggests the different view about our relationship to both the theater as well as our own lives. When we are introduced to a new idea that doesn't conform to out beliefs or expectations we tend to question or reject those ideas.
“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds—if it was a bet you wouldn’t take it.”
This quote is from The Player. He says that life is a risk and that there isn't a big chance that you will win. It basically talks about the reality of the world that everyone must come to accept.
Themes:
Life will be unexpected and understanding it completely is impossible.
The unexpected things in life are symbolized in the coin tosses and when the pirates take control of the ship. Trying to make sense of some things can create confusion. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were always caught up in the middle of something. They even forgot their names sometimes.
I think it is cool that you commented on the different style that each character has in the play. Because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can be interchanged and the actors usually switch halfway through the play do you think that their styles are the same or similar? I also really like the first quote that you chose. A major part of the play was the face that a almost all of the characters knew they were just actors in the play and this whole "play inside of a play" idea. It not only made the book more interesting to read but it also made the meaning of it much deeper. This is a nice summary of this play!
ReplyDelete(I think you meant "Summary and Analysis of 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.'")
ReplyDeleteI guess it's possible to skip parts of the plot because they are covered in Hamlet, but because we're offered a different perspective in this work, I think you might be missing some key details by having such a concise summary of plot. A large part of the work focuses on how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern react to their confusion and loss of identity at Elsinore, which you omitted.
I also think you can go deeper in your analysis of the characters. (There are only 3 major ones.) You know how their intellects compare on the surface, but I definitely found parts of the work that show Rosencrantz to have some thought that Guildenstern does not and instances in which Guildenstern seems to break out of the character mold you describe here. My analysis of the Player was actually the opposite of yours. You say he tries to act smarter than he is, but I think he knows more than he lets on. He seems to be one of the few characters conscious that the environment is a play, and he frequently hints this but cannot reveal it explicitly to R + G.
Clearly, there's a lot more to say about style. I'll leave it at that.
I agree with Mayank, more details are needed! The plot is confusing, so tell us that! It's okay if the plot doesn't make much sense because that's how it was in R&G. You should also include the ship as a setting. I would also suggest adding a little more description to the characters. They're the most important people in the play so it's a good idea to make sure your reader has a good understanding of them. Overall, nice work
ReplyDelete