Ros And Guild And Hamlet example essay topic

EXPLORE THE WAYS IN WHICH STOPPARD HAS APPROPRIATED HAMLET. EXPLAIN USING CONTEXT AND VALUES. MAKE REFERENCES TO PRODUCTION YOU HAVE SEEN. Stoppard has appropriated Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' to explore the fundamental questions that face humanity - questions of life, death, identity, illusion and reality, and the purpose behind life.

However, the perspective of each of the plays is different on these themes, and is reflective of the times in which the playwrights lived, and the societal value systems of their times. Shakespeare conveys that the 'purpose of playing' is that it shows 'the mirror up to nature'. That is, his play is a reflection of reality, which is full of ambiguity and has an underlying meaning and purpose. On the other hand, Stoppard believes that everything is pre-determined, with 'a design', and a designer who has a hand in planning a 'work in art'.

Because everything is pre-destined, 'events must play themselves out to... logical conclusion'. The first and most obvious dynamic which Stoppard has appropriated from Hamlet is his characters. Stoppard simply uses Shakespeare's characters, without introducing any new characters. However, Stoppard looks at them from a different perspective, and gives the characters different roles and different personalities to the classic version. For example, Stoppard takes two minor characters from the classic play, and makes them the protagonists of his own play.

In the meantime, Hamlet is transformed from the protagonist to a minor character... With these characters, Stoppard also appropriates the themes and situations which they are faced with in Hamlet. However, the themes are presented in a new way, reflective of the times and mindset of the context in which they were written. Stoppard, living in existentialist movement of the 20th century, poses the same themes as Hamlet in the light of the times in which he was living. In the Bondi Pavilion version of Hamlet and R & G, the actor portraying Hamlet was female. Here, the director shows how the themes of Hamlet and R &G are meant to transcend notions of sexuality, thus, portraying a new 20th century perspective, that the thematic concerns are relevant to each person, unlike the Elizabethan era, e.g. princes, queens kings etc.

To convey the themes of Hamlet to a new audience, Stoppard appropriates the language of the classical play. The language used in both plays are a reflection of the times in which they were written. One the one hand, Hamlet is a classic play, written with a combination of formal prose and rhymed verse. On the other hand, R&G are Dead uses parts of Hamlet's formal, old English, and builds around it using colloquialisms and comical language of the 20th century. Stoppard uses humour to bring the themes to life. This makes Stoppard's play more accessible and attractive to a modern audience, allowing the thematic concerns of the classic tragedy to be understood.

For example, upon watching a live production of the play at Bondi Pavilion, the audience was actively engaged by the humour that was evoked by the script, which engaged the audience in a different way than the classical tragedy of Hamlet. Hamlet And Ros and Guild are Dead are both preoccupied with the philosophy of language; Hamlet through the many questions and riddles, which reveal the main character's state of uncertainty, and Ros and Guilds through their word games. When Guild says "Words, that's all we " ve got", he is attempting to find meaning in his life. Ros and Guild mock the many questions asked, and unanswered, in Hamlet through the question game where the two relay a number of pointless questions.

Death is a central focus in Hamlet and Ros and Guild. The portrayal of death in Shakespeare's Hamlet involves religion, violence, blood, poisoning and duels, which is a stark contrast to Stoppard's image of death, as simply an absence. Hamlet is preoccupied with death and the repercussions of it. This is seen when he plays on the idea of suicide but is consumed by religious connotation and whether he would go to heaven or hell.

This is also displayed the moment Hamlet was going to murder Claudius, and stating that Claudius would go to heaven therefore undertaking a favour by him, while his father is still in purgatory. Death to Guild is "just a man failing to reappear" and to Ros as "Death in a box". Stoppard is trying to demonstrate that Death is inevitable and thus life comes to an end with no continuation and no suggestion of eternity, heaven or hell. This reflects on the existentialist point of view at the time. Stoppard has appropriated death from the dramatic, to the everyday.

Identity is in addition a major thematic concern in both Ros and Guild and Hamlet. Hamlet lacks self identity as do Ros and Guild. Their identities lay in others lives. Hamlet's identity lies in his Father's undone deeds. Hamlet goes through many stages where he questions his identity as the revenger for his Father, even though Hamlet's existence is given purpose in the course of what has happened to his Father and what he must do for him. Ros and Guild's lives are dependant on Hamlet's.

Hamlet gives them a reason for existence, other wise they would not exist. Ros and Guild need Hamlet's play to be in existence, though Ros and Guild realise their fate is already predetermined. The audience knows this from the title already, and so do Ros and Guild. Ros and Guild incorporate the idea of Metatheatracallity i.e. Theatre that is aware of itself. This idea was taken from Hamlet when the play is acted for Claudius, and was adapted by Stoppard to make the whole play of Ros and Guild Metatheatracal. This brakes down the Fourth wall and tries to engage the audience in thought and as characters in the play, whereas in Hamlet this is not so.

Fate and destiny had and undermining presence in both plays, though, due to the different times and value systems, focuses on different areas. In hamlet and Elizabethan times Fate and destiny lied in religion and the church. Your fate lay in the hands of god; actions committed on earth would thus lead to your destiny in eternity. In Ros and Guild the existentialist point of view that fate and destiny rely on chance is shown when Ros asks "What's the Game" and Guild replies "where are the rules". Stoppard has appropriated Shakespeare's Hamlet to convey the condition of humanity to a modern audience. Questions of life and death, of existence and the purpose of life are explored in both plays, but presented with different perspectives, reflective of the value systems and contexts in which each playwright was living.

Whilst Stoppard used the characters, plot and general themes of Hamlet, he showed his belief that life is not an ambiguous play with an ambiguous end, but a pre-determined state of being which must simply be played to its "logical conclusion" - "death in a box.".