Summary and Analysis of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Summary:

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” by Tom Stoppard, is a theater of the absurd existentialism play written in the 1960s. The story starts out with a scene between R and G where G is flipping a coin and every time he flips it, it lands on heads. From there they discuss the fact that the coin has landed heads up an improbable amount of times, hence defying the likelihood that it wouldn’t. They also discuss how neither of them can remember anything, even the questions that prompt their discussion. At which point the Tragedians, a troop of actors, arrive and offer R&G sexual acts with their youngest member Edward, who plays all the women in their plays. G extends the coin flipping bet to the Player (the head honcho of the troop). After the improbable heads-up streak, the coin finally lands tails-up, hence ending the streak. The lights fade out and fade back in to show R&G in the lands of Elsinore with Claudius and Gertrude. They all talk about the potential causes of Hamlet’s madness but come to no firm resolution. After Claudius and Gertrude leave R&G to start a game of questions, where you are to only answer/ask questions and it is scored like tennis. They just end up confusing one another and begin to question who is who and begin a role-playing game where one is one and the other is Hamlet. They get more confused.


Act two, R&G are with Hamlet and he is claiming to only be mad when the wind blows a certain direction. The talk of wind prompts a conversation between R&G, when Hamlet leaves, about the wind and how they can tell where the wind is blowing and what they could do to figure it out. Claudius reintroduces the tragedians who talk about how their work only has meaning when there are people there to watch them. When the player leaves to go practice his lines, R&G discuss death and what it means to be dead and what influence you have when gone. Later while the play is being rehearsed, the player talks about the “dumb play” and how it is better used to show the meaning of the work, because words mean nothing and carry minimal communication. Continuing the rehearsal R stops it shortly after because he notices the two spies in the play. The two spies in the play are dressed in the same clothes as R&G, and R thinks he recognizes them but cannot quite place them, ultimately giving up. The play that was being rehearsed is the story of R&G and Hamlet played out and showing all that is going to happen, all the while R&G have no clue what is going to happen. In the next scene, Hamlet is seen dragging Polonius’ body away (as to hide him), and R&G try to trap him with their belts. The scene provides comic relief to the intense nature of Hamlet’s act. When Hamlet leaves, Claudius appears and says that they are to find Polonius’ body. Shortly after, Claudius tells R&G that they will be escorting Hamlet to England, not giving them a choice in the matter.


Act three, the lights fade in and they are all on a boat. R&G are talking and end up role playing again and in the heat of the moment open the letter that Claudius had sent for the guards of England in regards to Hamlet’s arrival. R&G are shocked to see that the letter is sentencing Hamlet’s immediate execution. R&G argue if they can do it or not, escort him to his death, but ultimately end up sleeping. Hamlet slips into their room and forges the same letter, but sentencing R&G instead. The next morning, it is made clear that the tragedians are on the boat as well and were cast there when the king became so infuriated with their performance that they had to escape. Quickly after, there is an attack scene with pirates, and Hamlet manages to escape the boat leaving the players and R&G behind. Lost at what is happening G stabs the player and the player dies. Well… pretends to die and shows R&G that death can be faked and it can be done all through acting and pretend. R realizes their end is near and wonders how they were caught up in the situation. He asks if they could remain on the ship to avoid their executions. He asks G if they went wrong somewhere, neither can remember. R announces that he is done with it all, and leaves the stage. G does not notice, and instead, he tries to remember their actions, believing that they must have had an opportunity to prevent all that has happened. Suddenly, G realizes he is alone and begins crying out for R, but he is unable to remember if he is G or R. He says that they will be better off the next time around, and he leaves the stage in darkness.

Quotes:

“Rosencrantz: What are you playing at?/ Guildenstern: Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.”

This quote discusses the futility of words and how they can commonly mean nothing because they lack context. In the case of the play, they do rely on words and that is the root of their shallow meanings and lack of understanding.

“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds—if it was a bet you wouldn’t take it.”

A major motif in the play is both futility of life, and gambling. They are saying that life is not worth betting on, it will never go the way you want because the world is indifferent to your will.

Theme Statement:

In "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead", Stoppard comments on the futility of human purpose in a work where people are confined to a role that they do not have control over.

Characters:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- 

Both serve as interchangeable means of presentation for Stoppard's work. They are simply shallow characters that are lost without the writing and direction of the author. If they were given depth then they would have been deep, but they remained as Shakespeare wrote them, shallow and to serve their purpose in the story of Hamlet. They are purposely confused and upset to show their lack of meaning and purpose.

Player-

 Used to show them how a character can be defined by their role, and embrace that. The player is one of the few, if not only, self-aware characters within this play. His self-awareness contrasts the lostness that R&G feel throughout the play.

Motifs:

Gambling

Loose papers

Music (specifically the tragedians)

Science experiments (ie. the paper airplane)

Response to Class Material #5

From the last response to course material that was posted, we, as a class, have continued to read and work with Hamlet through analysis and discussion. For a more in-depth explanation of Hamlet see Summary and Analysis of Hamlet. The Hamlet open prompt proved to be somewhat of a challenge for me for some reason. When we were given the open prompt in class I did nothing short of panic and forget every word that I know. Upon rereading and reworking the essay, I realized that I really REALLY need to practice timed writing. My initial essay was rough as heck, but after rereading and reworking it, I feel that it turned out okay and I was okay to attach my name to the work. The key things that I had to work on were really nailing my intro and forming a solid thesis that I could easily revisit throughout my essay. From there the essay was much easier to write and made my ideas a lot more clear and understandable.


Onto Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, the second to last book that our class is reading for the year (wow... that went fast). For an in-depth analysis check out my Summary and Analysis on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which shall come shortly after this post. R&G was a harder story for me to grasp and understand due to the confusing and pretty ambiguous nature of theater of the absurd. To help myself I just need to notice motifs and themes and stick with them through all the nonsense.


We have also been working on my questions for the AP exam in may. I often find those more daunting than writing the prompts because of how confused I can become when all the words do not make sense and you do not know what you are reading in the first place. The silver lining is that I am getting better at faking it, and acting like I totally know what I am talking about. The confidence seems to help my score when it comes down to it, so even if I'm still unsure, at least I am getting some of the questions correct.

Open Prompt 2 #2 (I think...?)

1979

Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

As it is often said, our actions do not always define who we are as a person, but at what point do those action reflects who we are? In The Kite Runner, The main character Amir is put into several circumstances where he is in between a rock and a hard place, causing his actions to reflect that internal struggle. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, uses themes of betrayal and forgiveness to show that no matter how bad an action is, it does not have to define you as a person.


In the first half of The Kite Runner, Amir is faced with the the judgement of the other boys over his best friend, Hassan, being a Hazara in a community of Pashtuns. The boys, although different in race, were inseparable until Amir started listening to the hurtful words of the other boys. The apex of the betrayal was when Amir pretended not to see the rape of Hassan, even though he could of helped the situation. Such a serious moment is nearly impossible to process as a child, hence the hesitation and fear that Amir felt in the moment. Without any other context, it would seem that Amir left his friend to suffer without any second though; whereas in reality, he was nothing more than a confused child that was scared to tell anyone or do anything. The innocence of the situation cuts the malevolence tenfold, hence not making this one act of betrayal reflective of Amir’s personality as a whole. Furthermore, Amir let the burden of watching his childhood friend’s rape weigh on him throughout his adult life. The guilt that Amir bore also reflects on his personality showing how even though he made a horrible mistake he held himself credible for it.


On the flipside of the situation, Hassan used the power of forgiveness to rise above the evil that Amir committed. Beyond ignoring Hassan’s rape, Amir also falsely accused Hassan of stealing and furthermore got him and his father kicked out/ moved out of Baba’s home that they shared. The action on Amir’s behalf was done out of anger and frustration that he could not find his father’s love. Although not an excuse, Hassan understood and followed Amir’s will, like he always would and left the safehaven that was Baba’s home. From the point of moving out on, Hassan never held it against Amir because he understood and choose to forgive Amir for feeling the way he did. Although the evil was committed and the pain was felt, Hassan chose to forgive Amir and chose to see him still as the wonderful friend he had been. That forgiveness allowed Hassan to not let Amir’s actions define him and chose to see past the pain and hurt to remember who Amir once was to him.


Amir is that of a tragic hero, it took him falling apart and doing so much wrong to see that he could do good in the world. Although it took time and consideration, Amir learned to not let his acts of betrayal towards Hassan define him. With the cure of forgiveness, Amir was able to free himself from the actions that once defined his childhood.

Open Prompt 1 #2 2004

1. I would score student #1 an 8 on the AP grading scale. The intro showed great control and understanding of what she wanted to talk about regarding the prompt. The Intro could have acted as an independent answer to the prompt due to their T.A.P. organization of the intro. Secondarily, The student did a good job avoiding plot summary and balancing it with enough information to explain their examples for their answer. Student #1’s handwriting was good enough that I did not struggle when reading it, but it without a shadow of doubt could have been improved for the sake of the AP readers. My other small gripe about Student #1’s essay was the length of it- a good essay should be concise and get to the point. They did make good use of their words, but I also feel that the essay could have been condensed further.

2. Student #2 would have scored a 5 if I were to of graded these essays. The intro to the essay was rather weak and although could have technically stood on its own, was still bare in nature and stripped down to the bare minimum of what needed for an AP intro. I do like the fact there are scribbles all over the page because that means that the student thought about how best to word their work and worked through their problem nevertheless. The handwriting, on a shallow level, was very easy to read- which I really appreciated. On a literary level, I feel that the student kept the essay at a very shallow level and did not talk into any depth about the meanings of the examples that she provided.

3. Student 3’s essay probably would have earned a 2 or 3 if I were to of graded the essays. The first thing that I noticed when I went to read the essay, was that there seemed to be no paragraph breaks which was beyond frustrating to read. Another silly mistake that they made was not underlining the name of the story, which is technically incorrect. As far as intros go, I am not really sure where the intro stops and where the first paragraph starts- and that makes it rather hard to judge the quality of the intro when you can not even find it. Along the lines of not being able to find an intro, I was also not able to find the conclusion! The essay simply just rambles off into a finishing point. The only compliment that I can think of is that the student has pretty nice handwriting, which makes the essay a smidgen better.