Existentialism In Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play written by Tom Stoppard and is seen as absurdist in nature. Tom Stoppard wrote the play based off of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, but tells the story from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s point of view. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard develops existentialist ideals through the main characters of the play.
Existentialism states that man is meaningless and that the world around him is has no meaning. This is the primary issue that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern constantly encounter throughout the entire story. The play starts with an existentialist idea when Guildenstern and Rosencrantz encounter the Tragedians.
Guildenstern: “My God,” says a second man, “I must be dreaming, I thought I saw a unicorn.” At which point, a dimension added that makes the experience as alarming as it will ever be. A third witness, you understand, adds no further dimension but only spreads it thinner, and a fourth thinner still, and the more witness there are the thinner it gets and more reasonable it becomes until it is as thin as reality, the name we give to the common experience…(1.21).
This shows that Guildenstern thinks that reality is only real when there are other people there to see it. Without a witness there is no meaning. This shows the idea that reality has no meaning and can’t exist without anyone to witness and give meaning to it. Stoppard develops the idea that life is meaningless towards the end of the play when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern encounter the Player while on the ship to England.
Guildenstern: “But why? Was it all for this? Who are we that so much should converge on our little deaths? Who are we?”
Player: “You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That’s enough.”...

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... on around them and what their role is in the world. Their life has no meaning and without any further direction Rosencrantz and Guildenstern simply cease to exist. “Guildenstern: “But why? Was it all for this? Who are we that so much should converge on our little deaths? Who are we?” Player: “You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That’s enough” (3.122).
Overall, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead should be recognized as an existentialist play due to the many existentialist ideas that come from the main characters. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern constantly bring up the idea that life is meaningless and because of this they try to search for meaning but they seemingly find nothing. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead can be considered an existentialist play due to the ideals of the main characters and their search for meaning in an absurd world.

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