Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard, is a play written in the form of Theater of the Absurd, which gives a further explanation into the lives of the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Stoppard poses many questions about the meaning of life, however he does not provide a clear answer to any of them. When Guiland Ros are about to get on the boat and begin their journey to England, Ros asks “Do you think death could possibly be on a boat?” This question is both satirical and dark. It is comedic because of the of dramatic irony that is obvious to the audience. The reality of the question is that the boat in question is piloting Ros and Guil toward their deaths, which they are completely unaware of. Ros expresses doubt about getting on the boat but …show more content…

Stoppard uses the boat as a metaphor for life. He shows that even though humans have the free will to walk around the boat during a journey, the destination is always the same. The boat is also a metaphor for the confinement that Ros and Guil exhibit throughout the work. Stoppard uses this question to show how free will, or in Ros and Guil’s case, lack thereof, is absurd because life itself eventually leads to nothing. Stoppard answers this question through his use of elements of existentialism and demonstration the incomprehensibility of the world.
One of the ways Stoppard chooses to answer this question is by outlining the different between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or the privilege and the present. Rosencrantz is portrayed as the present, meaning he chooses to worry about the boat ride and it’s possible outcomes. When Ros ask “do you think death could possibly be on a boat?”, he chooses to relate boats to death because they both

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