"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" Analysis 3/11

Summary: The play begins with the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (R and G) flipping a coin in the woods. The coin repetitively comes up heads, never tails, and they begin to discuss the probability of this actually occurring. Have they entered an alternate world, or has time simply stopped? Eventually, they meet the Players in the woods that invite them to join their work, and as the play shifts into the players work, the coin comes up tails. Next, we find that the play as shifted to the setting of Elsinore in Shakespeare's "Hamlet". While they are here, their identities are confused and they find themselves confused on their quest to figure out the cause of Hamlet's madness. They then find themselves aboard a ship, where they hear of their fate to die, and the play closes with the closing of "Hamlet".

Author: Stoppard was born to  a Jewish family, but was adapted into British culture during World Ward II. He was a theater critic and then began his writing when he won awards for "R and G".

Setting: Begins in the woods with the coin and Players and shifts to Elsinore and "Hamlet"

Characters:
      Rosencrantz: easy-going, happy, carefree, confused, simple but efficient, positive
     Guildenstern: anxious, concerned deeply, desperately seeks answers, searches for reason, despairing

Narrative Voice and Style: There is repetitive language and short concise syntax where it is easy to be misunderstood and defines R and G's relationship. Confusion and Loss of time symbolizes the world and life within. Time is lost for all of us.

Quotes: "Words, words. They're all we have to go on." This shows that language is complex and challenging. Within drama, there is word play for comic effect and humor, and without words, it would be difficult to express oneself.

"Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in." This is a view of theater in reality, if something on stage is predictable then it is believable and enjoyable. Life can be portrayed as a larger version of the theater.

Theme: "R and G" show the difficulty in understanding the world around us. There is much improbability and coincidence in life, that capturing the meaning of the world and life is difficult. Does everything happen for a reason, or are we actually real? These are the questions that are hard to grasp, and "R and G" portrays this difficulty of grasping these concepts.