Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Summary:
~Author - Tom Stoppard
~Setting - Hamlet's court, a boat, limbo
~Plot - So there are these friends that live in limbo. Really, they need to get lives. But... since they can't they just have to make due. They go through life (or what we know of it...) asking if they can take action, not how to take action like Hamlet. Guil is the 'philosophical' guy that keeps asking questions about life and its meaning, but he leads an unhappy life. Ros, on the other hand, is the epitome of the phrase "ignorance is bliss," he doesn't question.. only accepts the reality he is in. Gertrude and Claudius bring them in to help find out what is wrong with Hamlet and eventually they are to take him to England. Once they can't fulfill that duty, they are essentially dead, although we don't know what really happened.
Significant Characters:
~ Rozencrantz and Guilenstern: Old friends of Hamlet, help the king
~ Hamlet: the friend
~The players: give meaning to the story
~ Gertrude & Claudius: Mother/stepfather to Hamlet
Narrative Voice and Author's style:
~View: No narrator, nobody knows all
~ Tone: witty, sarcastic, bleak
~Imagery:
* Wind imagery
* play withing a play imagery
~ Symbolism:
* The coins: chance, life
* The boat: death
Quotes
~ Rosencrantz: What are you playing at?
Guildenstern: Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.
When Guil says this, he is talking about the good and bad things about language. Having words to go on seems to be a blessing, but when that's all we have... how do we know what's true other than what people tell us? This is an important idea throughout the book.
~ Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in.
This quote shows how stoppard feels about plays in general.
Theme:
Again, you did a really good job of organizing the post. The bullet points are really easy to follow along with. Your plot summary is great because it shows the basic story line without overdoing it by including too many details. That's really helpful with this play because almost everything had deeper meanings that would be difficult to describe concisely. The only problem is that your theme was cut off of the post. Overall good job!
ReplyDeleteI really like your informal tone in these posts. It's a lot more interesting and easier to review from. I just think that your plot is a bit short. If you know that you'll remember the play well enough, you can maybe add what your theory or the critic's theory is of R&G's ending and death. That's probably something i'm just wondering about lawl. I also think it's nice that you only analyzed the new characters and their significance since a lot of them are already from Hamlet.
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