Hamlet and R&G are dead- assessment task (1 Viewer)

[kafryn_rookie]

Help Needed!!!!!!!!!

I have an assessment task coming up where i am required to write an inclass response to either of these questions

1. "transformations are in no sense rewriting of old material. Rather they create new visions of experience, which may be read with refernce to the old."
Discuss thus statement in relation to Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

2. A recent director of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead has stated: "... there is, I believe, a very dark and dense centre to this play that is as tragic and possible and even more frightening than that which sits at the heart of Shakespeare's Hamlet."
Discuss this statment

3. In comparing your Two Texts you will have become aware of how the contexts of the texts have shaped their form and meaning. Of more interest, perhaps, is a comparision of the values associated with each text.
To what extent has this point of view been your experience in your study of Transformations.

If anyone has any ideas as to what to include in either of the questions, please post a reply

 

[glitterfairy]

I *so* did that first question as part of an assessment task... is this a past HGHS paper?

I really sucked at Transformations, but will give it my best shot anyway (If this is really the same paper, then this is the one where we all went REALLY bad and got a huge lecture haha, silly Mr E).

1) Hamlet and R&G might share the same characters and settings, but note how the different contexts make the meaning entirely different - which could be argued to mean a "new text" (not just re-writing it in modern-day language). Also, Stoppard looks at the traditional story of Hamlet from a completely different angle as well. You really want to look at comparisons and similarities here, and how they make them the same but different (I think this is the one I ended up having to do, waffled my head off and got 6/15 heehee... got a band 6 for Adv Eng though for the HSC so there's still time to improve!)

2) What's the general plot of Hamlet again? To my vague recollection - there's a fair bit of writing about how Shakespear appears to have difficulties pinning down his characters. Also, it's a fairly pagan play - hello strict religious Elizabethan society! Shakespeare pushes it quite a bit and there is a lot of dark stuff to work off - R&G takes this a step further. People going mad, people questioning why they exist (is there a god? <-- heretic!) - pretty heavy stuff, and certainly not the kind of subject matter Shakespeare usually writes.

3. Oh oh oh! I swear I did this one too! How crazy...

This one is a little more straightforward. Elizabethan times - the malcontent (ok there's lots more I'm really glossing over now) and I think r&G was written in the 60s, when everyone was questing their values after the overly-golden 50s (hence all the unanswered questions in R&G)

If I can get my head on straight, I'll add more to this later...

 

[nwatts]

If it was me, i'd probably choose option 2. Its response would be a little different to what you'd write for the other two (which would essentially result in a very similar essay), and it seems to allow for more personal discussion (which English teachers love - show them you're thinking).

Forming the basis of my response would be a discussion on Stoppard's value in life, in comparison to Shakespeare's. Stoppard writes from the perspective of Theatre of the Absurd, which gives very little value to life (you can reference the father of absurdist theatre, Beckett) portraying life as meaningless and scripted ("the wheels are in motion"). When R and G die, they disappear from stage - demonstrating that Stoppard holds no value/respect in death, mirroring his view on life. Shakespare has clearly written from the perspective of holding great value in life and in death, which isn't difficult to see.

In relation to the question then, I'd comment on how Stoppard's view on life as meaningless and scripted is far more horrifying than the relatively low-key 'revenge' theme of Hamlet.

 

[glitterfairy]

^^ just to add to the above:

If this assessment is the same one I did, you have to prepare for all three - then on the day, they draw the essay question out of a hat.