Author
Tom Stoppard was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937. He left with his parents to Singapore in 1939 to escape the Nazis. A few years late he moved to India to escape the invading Japanese. His mother soon remarried after his father drowned and then the whole family moved to England. At 17 Stoppard began working as a journalist and soon got into writing plays and this is when he wrote "Ronsencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead"
Setting
The setting is the late 1500's near Hamlet's court and possible on a boat.
Summary
-The scene opens with Rosencrantz and Guildernstern walking i nthe middle of a forest flipping coins with each other. Every time it lands on head, Rosencrantz wins. Guildernstern analyses the situation and worries that the odds are off. He wonders if they have entered a world where time is not moving and the possibility of chances if absent.
-The two go on to wonder what they are doing in this area and remember htat a messenger has called them.
-They come upon the Tragedians and the actors tell them that they specialize in sexual performances.Guildernstern offers the player a bet and the tragedians lose. They say that they can only pay in the form of a play. As the tragedians prepare, Rosencrantz reveals that the most recent coin landed tails up.
-The scene changes and the two are in Elsinore. The two see Ophelia and Hamlet upset with each other and Claudius tells them that htey must find out the source of Hamlet's madness. Contemplating on how they would get Hamlet to admit his madness they play a game of question and answer. They confuse themselves further.
- They finally find the source of Hamlet's madness(his father has just died and his mother has married his uncle)
- They talk to Hamlet and Hamlet confuses them more.
-The tragedians arrive and Hamlet announces that there is going to be a play the next day. The player, Rosencrantz and Guilernstern discuss the source of Hamlet madness. And as the player exits, the two begin to talk about what happens after death.
-R and G overhear Hamlet contemplating if he should commit suicide. Claudius, Gertrude, and Poloinoius walk in and the two tell them that Hamlet wants them to attend the play.
-After the play Claudius tells them to go to England with Hamlet. On the boat they cannot remember their mission and then read the letter that Claudius gave them. They read that Hamlet is to be executed. They cannot decide what to do. As the two are sleeping, Hamlet siwthces the letters which read that R and G are to be executed.
- When R and G learn of this they kill the player, and he talks about the different kind of ways that one can act death.
The scnen closes with Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, and Horatio are dead.
Themes
1. The difficulty of making rational choices. Rosencrantz and Guildernstern constantly have to make decisions that will effect not only themselves but also others.
2. The world is a confusing place that everyone must get through.
Ok--I really love your summaries. I have no idea how you churn them out. Maybe I'm just crap at summarizing, but I find yours very well-organized and plot/action oriented. (A+) Also, your Stoppard author bio was amazing. I had no idea that he was born in Eastern Europe--it's interesting that I got an eastern steppes vibe from the movie scenery of the forest that R&G began in. Back at your summary, I would say that I wonder if they truly discover that the "source of Hamlet's madness" is the death of his father and marriage of his mother. I think that the play might suggest something more inscrutable than that. They seem to be lost in their observations, left unable to interpret them without a guide, or at least in my interpretation that's their dilemma. You seem to agree with this in your theme statements: I would add that they are unable to make rational choices because of this confusion in first interpreting the world around them.
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