"The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody."
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead.
"The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody."
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead.
Welcome to my Ros and Guil page! I'm guessing that you are here for one of three reasons. One, you are hoplessly lost. Two, you love Stoppard's FANTASTIC play as much as I do. Or, three, for some strange reason you can neither afford nor be bothered to buy some crib notes and you've come searching the web the night before the exam in a mad panic and you haven't slept in days because you JUST DONT GET IT!!
Having just come from the latter category, I sympathise. When I found myself in the same position I was alarmed (then distraught, then panicked...) at the lack of Ros & Guil info on the web. I am attempting to rectify this situation. I say attempting because this is not a comprehensive set of notes. They're mainly from class, but hopefully they will be of some help. If you still don't get it, don't blame me.
Remember:
Read the play. If you can, go and see it.
Be familiar with Hamlet. You could also read Waiting For Godot (and learn to spell "borrow"-plagiarism is a naughty word).
It is NOT a BOOK! It's a PLAY meant to be seen not read in a classroom. Always mention the DRAMATIC EFFECT of anything you say.
Don't let the NSW English curriculum suck the capacity for free thought out of you. They will try. If you can come up with your own ideas, use them. Just remember to have PROOF.
NB: All page references relate to the 1974 Faber Paperbacks edition.
Rosencrantz.
*Obtuse-Hamlet role play.
*Initially placid. Later, more uneasy and bewildered.
*Follower-"I can't think of anything original. I'm only good in support." (75)
*Follows instinct rather than reason.
*Reactive-chooses to let Hamlet die (which I, personally, think is GREAT).
*Lacks imagination-can't foresee England.
*More like a child so we want to protect him.
Guildenstern.
*Intellectual and incisive-His monologues, tries to stab Player.
*Needs order and tests his world.
*Prone to violence-Punches Player and later tries to stab him.
Common Traits.
*Lack individuality, past and identity.
*Neither of them really do anything.
*Naive, lack imagination-can't see meaning in the dumb show.
The Player.
*Connects R&G's world to Hamlet.
*Provides much of the metatheatre-"every exit is an entrance somewhere else", his views on death etc.
*Symbolises "unknowability" in others in the existential world.
*Represents the "them" who control R&G.-the only one who knows what will happen in advance.
*Adds to fear-"I should concentrate on not losing my heads", dumb show etc.
*Has more freedom than R&G-"I can come and go as I please"
Death.
*The title suggests that they are already dead.
*All have different views:
-Guil: "The ultimate negative. Not being."
-Ros: "Just a man failing to reappear." Box speech.
-The Player: "In our experience, most things end in death." "There's nothing more unconvincing than an unconvincing death."
Constant reference to death leads to a sinister fear throughout the play.
The Meaning of Life and Search For Purpose.
*No past or known future-continues sense of fear.
-"What was it all about? When did it begin?"
Stoppard uses this to explore philosophical ideas.
Identity.
*Don't really seem to have one- "Like two blind men looting a bazaar for their own portraits."
*Constantly confuse each other.
*Confusion in Hamlet scenes adds humour.
There are two main ones. Feel free to come up with your own.
We Are Helpless in a Controlling Universe.
*No identities, roles or purpose known to them.
"like two blind men looting a bazaar for their own portraits"(28)
"We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true." (48)
*No order or pattern to grasp.-Metathetre, coins game etc.
*Locked into a deterministic world-"Decides? It is written." (58)
*Actions and words prove trivial, pointless and self defeating.
*Disintegration of moral and aesthetic values-Solid Hamlet world mocked and broken down.
This all leads to a sense of FEAR, MENACE and DESPERATION.
Only Through Acting Do We Confirm Our Existence
*R&G are passive so cause their own deaths.
- Evade reality with games.
- Don't act when they can (eg: change the letters).
*Other characters such as the Player show up their passivity.
*Universe does have order-Tableaux at end restores it.
R&G's
*Colloquial-Empathy.
*Puns, patterns, punchlines and paradoxes-Humour.
*Distortions of Hamlet etc-Humour, chaos.
*Imagery eg: "box", Guil's unicorn and those of death-Reinforce concerns.
*Philosophical monologues use jargon.
Hamlet World.
*Only business scenes-Demeaning and don't show R&G up.
*Formal and regular-Controlled order contrasts with R&G's world.
Player's.
*Contemporary. Colloquial in humorous sections.
*Rhetorical but undercut.
*Descriptive and figurative.
*Use of theater jargon.
Mixture of styles creates ambiguity about the character.
Interaction and integration of the 4 main worlds of the play:
1 .R&G's World
2. Hamlet world.
3. Absurdist world (the bits borrowed from Waiting For Godot).
4. Vaudeville-includes melodrama, pantomime, metatheatre etc.
The conflict between these makes for ENTERTAINMENT and SURPRISE.
Ambushes:
*Small scale (R&G)-puns, run of "heads" in coin game
*Medium scale-Impossible number of people in barrels on boat, metatheatre, H's silent soliloquies etc.
*Large scale-The Player doesn't die, R&G's deaths.
- In all cases what is expected isn't delivered.
This leads to AUDIENCE INTEREST, PARTICIPATION and THOUGHT.
Metatheatre.
Basically, this is using the characters on stage to refer to themselves as actors etc.
*Mainly initiated by the Player.
-His very existence suggests acting.
-His speeches about acting and dying.
-"always in character"
-"Every exit is an entrance somewhere else."
*Also by R&G.
-"There's an art to the building up of suspense."
-"I feel like a spectator. I'm waiting for someone interesting to come on"
-"Give us this day our daily cue"
-The breeze comes up through the floor suggesting a stage.
Audience become aware they're in a theatre which leads to THOUGHT and PARTICIPATION.
Humour.
*Black-Ros' "box"
*Puns, word-plays, jokes etc-"tennis match", "high and dry" speech etc.
LIGHTENS MOOD as well as REINFORCING THEMES of death and confusion.
© 1999 J L Mitchell Webpage Design.
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