Theme: Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead contrasts the confusion and language of the stage with the audience, commenting that because life is not a work of art, we are not limited by the same laws of fate that characters are and can therefore exercise free will.
Summary: The play begins with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern onstage flipping coins that are all landing heads. They aren't really anywhere. They come across a group of Tragedians led by the Player, who they banter with for some time ultimately winning a bet with the Player, where the Tragedians will put on a show for them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then begin to encounter various characters from Hamlet, first by seeing Hamlet chase after Ophelia fretfully. They then encounter Claudius and Gertrude, and follow their lines in Shakespeare's play unknowingly. While not in the presence of other characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern contemplate their existence and try to sort things out for themselves, but they never get anywhere. At one point, the Tragedians perform a show for them, which foreshadows the future events of Hamlet including the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but it goes over their heads. Eventually, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern end up on a boat with Hamlet, as they do in Shakespeare's play. When the pirates attack and take Hamlet back to Denmark with them, the Tragedians emerge from barrels on the ship. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern read the letter that Hamlet traded in and learn that they are marked to die. The Player angers Guildenstern by seeming to have a relatively decent understanding of death that challenges Guildenstern's own. In a fit of rage, Guildenstern seemingly kills the Player with a knife, but the other actors applaud and it's revealed that the Player was only acting and that it was a prop knife. Ultimately, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die as they do in Hamlet.
Characters:
Guildenstern - One of the two main characters. Practically inseparable from Rosencrantz. He has an almost desperate desire to understand his surroundings, but he's never able to come to any conclusion that he's satisfied with. He's more contemplative and quick-thinking than his counterpart Guildenstern, but he'll often veer off course while thinking aloud to himself and only confuse himself further. He doesn't like the Player very much, largely due to the perception that the Player knows more about the universe they're in than he does. He like to think, contrasting with Rosencrantz, who tends to think more emotionally.
Rosencrantz - One of the two main characters. Practically inseparable from Rosencrantz. He's very curious, but his desire to understand everything around him isn't as intense as that of Guildenstern's. He's a bit slow but also very kindhearted. He has a few emotional outbursts later in the play, showing that he's more of an emotional thinker in contrast to Rosencrantz, who thinks logically.
Player - The leader of the Tragedians. The Player is an actor who has no problem adjusting to the times, performing whatever's most popular even if he doesn't particularly enjoy it all. He seems to understand the rules of the universe he exists in, and acts with it as opposed to against it like Guil and Ros attempt to do (but fail to do).
Motifs:
-Death
-Chance/Fate
-Language
-Theater/Art
-Confusion
-Logic
-Identity
-Coins
-Repetition
-Religion
-Direction
-Control
-Sex
-Eroticism
-Buying and Selling
-Meta
-Eternity
-Color
-Light
-Trust
Symbols:
-Unicorns
-England
-Light
-Boxes
-Boats
Quotes:
"Consistency is all I ask!" (p. 39) -- Ros and Guil can't seem to grasp their situation, so in desperation Guil exclaims that he would like some consistency. He doesn't realize that the rules of this universe are consistent, and this quote represents the struggle of Ros and Guil to understand their situation. They try too hard to use logic but they just end up confusing themselves.
"And besides, anything could happen yet." (p. 95) -- This quote has so much irony in it. Ros still believes that there's hope with their situation, that he and Ros might still have some control. But the fact is, they're going to die. No matter what they try to do, after they get on the boat, Hamlet will switch their letter, pirates will attack and take Hamlet, they will continue to England, and they'll be hung. Nothing can possibly change that. But Ros has yet to figure that out.
