An Analysis Of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

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Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead has an overarching theme of fate versus freewill. From the very beginning, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are flipping coins, to the very end when they are headed for England to certain death, there seems to be a struggle within the characters between what they can and cannot control. The fact that this play is written around Shakespeare’s Hamlet adds to the idea of fate, as what happens to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern has already been decided centuries ago. Stoppard uses figurative language, such as simile and metaphor, to suggest that no matter how much one tries to exercise their freewill, fate has an uncompromising grasp on everything. The play begins with Ros and Guil flipping coins; right away exemplifying the struggle between fate and freewill. “They are betting on the toss of a coin, in the …show more content…

Their fate was decided even before the start of the play. The title, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead gives it away. Furthermore, the idea is established additionally when Guildenstern says, “Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are… condemned” (1.60). This is another passive sentence, no one is setting the wheels in motion, it is just done. This is a metaphor; “wheels” symbolize fate. “Pace” means the speed or rate at which something happens, changes, or develops.“They have their own pace” signifies that the speed or rate at which something happens, changes, or develops is out of anyone’s control. Fate has its own pace. “Condemned” means sentence someone to a particular punishment. This casts fate in a negative light, compared to the previous passage, that portrayed fate as a reward. A reward is the complete opposite of a punishment, so again there are contradictions in Guildenstern’s reasoning. Either way, it states that we have no control over our

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