Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Summary and Analysis

Plot:
      Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Ros and Guil), two characters from Hamlet's Shakespeare, are looked at in a behind-the-scenes sort of way in the play that has a basic point: Shakespeare is everything. Shakespeare is literature, all other pieces of writing are influenced in some way by Shakespeare. Ros and Guil start out on a journey to the palace to help Hamlet, because they were sent for by a messenger. Along the way, they meet a crew of characters entitled in the play as "player and the tragedians". The play is filled with comical exchanges between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as they contemplate their life with in a "box".

Characters:

Rosencrantz - The more whimsical and comical of the two, Rosencrantz relies on Guildenstern for companionship, but though the two have fast-pace conversation throughout the play, neither of them are really listening to the other one. Rosencrantz listents more to Guildenstern than Guildenstern does Rosencrantz.

Guildenstern - The serious and logical one. Throughout the play, Guildenstern is the one questioning the laws of physics and the fact that the two are stuck within this play, where Shakespeare is controlling everything.

Player and Tragedians - Represent actors in their most basic form, compared to prostitutes in the play (tumblers) because both actors and prostitutes will "perform" anything for money.

Main Themes/Motifs:

-Probability - seen in the coin toss exchange between Ros and Guil...representative of the probability that when a reader or a viewer comes back to the same point in the play, the same thing will be happening at that moment, time doesn't really matter in a play or novel.

-Hamlet -  Stoppard uses Hamlet to say that no one can escape Shakespeare. All literature is in some way, shape or form influenced by Shakespeare, and in Ros and Guil, no matter what the two cannot do anything outside of Hamlet, they're stuck.

POV:
-Ros and Guil is told from their own point of view, being stuck in Hamlet.


Significant Quotes:

"We're actors! We're the opposite of people"
"Words, words. They're all we have to go on."
"Life in a box is better than no life at all."