Misc.
Information
Author: Tom Stoppard
Setting: a little bit of everywhere, the setting
isn’t very detailed and leaves the reader a little bit confused.
Characters
Rosencrantz: Like a child in many ways. He tends to
stumble upon riches (in the beginning when they are flipping coins) and in the
movie, he stumbles upon many different concepts from physics. He is seen as
less intelligent than Guildenstern. He is confused for Guildenstern in the
play, to the point where it is seen as a motif of the play.
Guildenstern: More of an adult figure. He looks out
for Rosencrantz. As a more intelligent character, he tries to use logic to
understand his situation, but whenever he gets close to understanding the
situation, he forgets.
Player: He seems to be more in control of the play
than R and G (I’ve decided that typing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is really
repetitive and takes a lot of time, so I’m just going to call them R and G)
are, and seems to understand that the play is a loop. He is seen as a more
powerful character, and he understands the dynamic of the play better.
Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, and Ophelia: Not very
major characters, but because they were big in Hamlet, I thought it would be
rude not to include them.
Tragedians: The “actors” in the play that Hamlet
hires, they are like the player’s posse. This includes Alfred, who, out of all
the tragedians, is the only one who has a real name.
Summary
The play opens on R and G flipping coins. A strange phenomenon
has occurred, where the coin is only coming up heads. R has been calling heads
the whole time, so his bag of money is fuller than G’s. G tries to explain this
by using many “laws” that are incorrect.
They stop flipping coins and think about how they
got to the point that they’re at. They remember that a messenger called for
them. Other than that, the readers learn that R and G forget things almost as
soon as they happen.
After this deep heart to heart, they stumble across the
player and the tragedians. It soon becomes vary apparent that the player is
trying to sell R and G sex, however R and G are oblivious, so the player tries
to drop more obvious hints, it becomes nearly painful for the reader.
After this silly encounter, R and G suddenly appear
in Elsinore! (what!?!) they are told that Hamlet has gone crazy, and that
(being his two best friends) they should find out what is troubling him, and
try to help fix it. This proves to be quite the issue later on when they cannot
find him.
Before Hamlet goes off on his crazy killing spree (just
kidding, he only kills Polonius), R and G run into the Player and his
tragedians, who are angered by the fact that R and G just left them in the
woods. He soon gets over it, and R and G explain their situation with Hamlet.
He tries to lend some helpful advice.
The player leaves and we learn that Polonius has
been killed. It is R and G’s job to find Hamlet and Polonius’ body. Gertrude
and Claudius decide that it’s a good idea to send Hamlet to England, and so R
and G go with him. However, instead of actually getting on a boat, they magically
appear on it in a dark room.
On the boat they talk about many different things,
but one reoccurring conversation was the one about G liking boats, and how he
would totally live on one if given the chance (however, we know this will never
happen.) It’s reflected back in the end with the quote “our first mistake was
getting on a boat.” But we’ll get to that later. First lets talk about the
other stuff that happens.
R and G practice what they’ll say to the king of England,
and accidentally open up the letter tat was given to them by the king. They
learn that Hamlet is to be put to death. However, Hamlet was also listening to
them practice, and realizes that he is going to his death. He plans against
this and writes a different letter, about R and G’s death, and closes it with
his royal seal.
R and G come across the player and the tragedians,
but before they can fully greet each other, the boat is attacked by pirates!! Hamlet
hops a ride with the pirates, and R and G are flustered! What are they to do? They
practice their revised lines now, and accidentally open the letter again! This
time, instead of mentioning Hamlets death, they read about their own impending
doom. The player tries to console R and G, but as the play comes to a close, G
starts to understand that the play is just a loop, and they will just be reborn
the next time someone opens Hamlet (the book)
Stuff
that happens that isn’t necessarily important about the summary, but still
means stuff to the book.
·
The repetition of conversations is a
common motif in the play, but the information that is repeated isn’t necessary.
·
The ‘Question and Answer’ game
·
R and G practicing their lines when they
aren’t in the play of Hamlet
·
Repetition of them forgetting.
Thesis
T-Stopz’ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead
contrasts the confusion and language of the stage with the audience, commenting
that because life is not a work of art we are not limited by the same laws of
fate that characters are and therefore may exercise free will.
Quotes
and why they’re important
·
“It is written” although this isn’t a
long quote, this is a major moment of epiphany for readers. The idea that R and
G were in a play before was obvious, but now we start to realize that
everything that they do is written, and they can’t stray from the text. This
line was a big help in writing the thesis statement.
·
“well, we’ll know better next time.” This
is the last thing that G says before disappearing in the end of the play.
Before this point, we as readers understand the loop that R and G are stuck on,
but up until now, we were led to believe that they remained ignorant about it.
We see here that G understands his fate, this too was a help in writing the
thesis.
Major
Motifs
o
Confusion
o
Language
o
Chance/ Fate
o
Death
o
Theatre
