Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Beckett's Waiting
for Godot are two plays with very similar pairs of characters. The
reason for this great similarity is because Stoppard based his pair of
characters on that of Beckett. In each set of characters, there is one
member who represents the physical part of the pair and the other
member represents the philosophical or psychological part. In
addition, both pairs of characters seem to strive off of their
companion, but in each case there is one partner who needs the other
more. In the case of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, it is Rosencrantz
who needs the assistance of Guildenstern; in the case of Vladimir
(Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), it is Gogo who needs Didi's companionship
more.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern share a common companionship. They appear
to be childhood friends who have grown up together, but they have no
recollection of their past. Rosencrantz, who is the physical aspect of
the duo, is very practical. He reasons out many things and seems to
find innovative and creative things to do with everyday items such as
paper and bird feeders. He needs to touch things in order to get a
full understanding of what it is. Guildenstern, on the other hand, is
the philosophical facet of the duo. He seems to reason out everything
with logic. There is no need for him to physically experience an
explanation for something; instead, he comes up with an extraordinary
explanation and accepts it by faith.
Didi and Gogo share a unique relationship. The two appear as if they
are not true friends, but instead together just as companionship to
not be lonely. They do no share the loving bond that is apparent in
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Both Didi and Gogo also have an apparent
memory problem. They can not remember whether they were in a certain
place the previous day. Gogo is the physical part of this pair. He has
an impairment with his feet; an inflammation of some sort. He has
trouble taking off his boots therefore giving him smelly feet. Gogo
has extremely bad memory and has trouble remembering what they are
doing until Didi reminds him that they are "Waiting for Godot". Didi
is the psychological aspect of this pair. He is always seen removing
his hat and looking in it as if he is looking for his mind. He has
trouble urinating which could be due to a kidney infection or most
likely syphilis.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are very friendly to and respectful of
each other. Though they yell at each other occasionally, it is out of
love and in the end, they end up embracing and making up.
A person is created by the experiences they go through and by the things they learn throughout their life. It is the question of who each individual is and what makes up their identity. Writers, no matter the type, have been addressing the issue of identity for thousands of years. One playwright who stands out in this regard is Shakespeare and his play Hamlet. The play continually questions who the individuals are and what makes up the person they are. Yet another play can be associated with Shakespeare’s masterpiece, as Tom Stoppard takes the minor characters in Hamlet and develop them into something more in his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The twentieth century reinvention of the supporting characters from Hamlet, contains three major messages or themes throughout the play including identity, language, and human motivation. The play has deep meaning hidden behind the comic exterior and upsetting conclusion and each of these three themes add to the ultimate message the play invokes into its audience.
is him being lonely. This trait is shown when Carlson says “It ain’t no go to himself” describing
with the amount of emotion he is feeling as he makes sure that he is
Both authors explore the progressive attitudes and how these were received during the time period of both Fitzgerald and Robert. Frost presents this idea in the poem, ‘Mending Wall’. The poem is about two neighbours who every year go to the end of the garden to meet and build a wall together. However, one neighbour is confused as why there needs to be a wall as there is nothing that needs to be divided or prevented from escaping or entering. This neighbour begins to challenge the other neighbour, ‘why do they make good neighbours?’
Many times we hear of society's affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act. Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples' actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized. Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the "valley of ashes." Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, aren't they the waste? Symbolically, this waste represents the lack of ethics of the 1920's society and civilization's decay. In The Great Gatsby, morals deficiencies such as a lack of God, selfishness, and idleness are reflective of a society as doomed as "the valley of ashes."
be a powerful man, has his life unravel before him as he loses his job, his
All humans have different views on certain topics. It is one of the blessings of being individuals. The view one person has may not agree with the view the rest of society has. These are typically the people that lead revolutions, the people that start new ideas. Authors write individuals into their works to show a complexity of views on many variations of topics. The common view of life and death in Hamlet and Brave New World is opposed by the atypical view of the individual, leading to a higher truth about the novel.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the objective is to divulge the quintessence of humanity. Although the protagonists in both works of literature have drastically different journeys that lead to climactic endings, the use of plot is to demonstrate that the essence of mankind is ultimately a tragedy if great care is not taken. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are unable to focus on the reality of the situation, and rather waste valuable time focusing on simply the appearance of things. However, Hamlet is a character completely consumed by despair and ultimately believes that life is futile. In contrast, Gatsby is a character who is rather obsessive of achieving the American Dream, and winning the love of Daisy, and is decisively far too anticipative.
knowledge that is obvious, and the desire that he has for it is blinding and he
Many perceive The Lion King, Disney's most successful movie to date, as Disney's only original movie; the only movie not previously a fairy tale from one country or another. This, however, is not the case. While The Lion King seems not to be beased on a fairy tale, it is in fact strongly based on the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Disney writers cleverly conceal the basic character archetypes and simplified storyline in a children's tale of cute lions in Africa. To the seasoned reader, however, Hamlet comes screaming out of the screenplay as obviously as Hamlet performed onstage.
1. Plays have foils to help the audience understand important characters in the play. Foils are minor characters that have similarities and differences with a more important character in the play. Sometimes the minor character is just there for the character to talk to; this is the basis for being a foil. In the play "Hamlet," [Titles] by William Shakespeare, the character Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play in three acts by Tom Stoppard, is a behind the scenes look at what happens in Shakespeare's Hamlet and how the events in the play may have seemed to other fringe characters. These characters are of very little relevance and even if they are removed from the scene of action, with the grotesque act of hanging by death, the impact on the actual play is minimal
At first glance, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America appear to serve as two individual exercises in the absurd. Varying degrees of the fantastical and bizarre drives the respective stories, and their respective conclusions hardly serve as logical resolutions to the questions that both Beckett and Kushner’s characters pose throughout the individual productions. Rather than viewing this abandonment of reality as the destination of either play, it should be seen as a method used by both Beckett and Kushner to force the audience to reconsider their preconceived notions when understanding the deeper emotional subtext of the plays. By presenting common and relatable situations such as love, loss, and the ways in which humans deal with change and growth, in largely unrecognizable packaging, Kushner and Beckett are able to disarm their audience amidst the chaos of the on stage action. Once the viewer’s inclination to make assumptions is stripped by the fantastical elements of either production, both playwrights provide moments of emotional clarity that the audience is forced to distill, analyze, and ultimately, comprehend on an individual level.
How does the use of comic relief best contrast the tragedy of Hamlet? In great works of literature a comic relief is used as contrast to a serious scene to intensify the overall tragic nature of the play or to relieve tension. As illustrated in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, intense scenes are joined with character’s banter and vacuous actions as to add a comic relief. In Hamlet, Polonius acts as a comic relief by his dull and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and his negativity toward the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a comic relief by their senseless actions and naïve natures. Polonius, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all used as a comic relief to increase the ultimate tragic nature of the play.
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.