LostAuzzie
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Hey All,
This essay I wrote b y hand in 40mins then typed up. It comes to about 800 words and answers a generic, what has been transformed and why, type question. Any advice as well as a mark out of 20 would be much appreciated:
Shakespeare’s text Hamlet has been transformed by Stoppard into Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead to better suit the contemporary context. Characters, themes, language and setting have all been changed to better suit the new audience. While Shakespeare uses a form of Revenge Tragedy to tell Hamlet’s story, Stoppard uses Absurdist theatre to represent the pervading belief of meaningless existence. Stoppard transforms the setting from Shakespeare’s Castle in Denmark, to his ambiguous location. All of this is changed by Stoppard so that his play can be better received by the modern audience for which it was written.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet was written in the 16th century Humanist era and thus has elements of the beliefs and social attitudes of this time. This was a time of rebellion against authority as evident in the acts of regicide committed by Hamlet and Claudius. There was still some sense of faith in God as evident in Hamlet’s belief that “there’s a divinity that shapes our ends” Hamlet’s choice not to kill Claudius during prayer and the reasoning behind it shows that a belief in the afterlife also still existed in this period.
Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead was written in the 20th Century Existentialist period. A much darker form of Humanism, this was a period brought on by events such as the World Wars and the Great Depression. Following such events people questioned everything including existence. For the main characters, Rosencrantz (hereafter Ros) and Guildenstern (hereafter Guil), “its all questions” as they try to discern their place in a world unknown to them. This was a time when nothing could be counted upon as emphasised in the opening scene where not even the law of probability can be counted upon. Questions of death, life and what they mean place Stoppard’s text clearly within the Existentialist period.
The characters are transformed by Stoppard so that the audience can better relate to the main character. The main character in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is transformed from the protagonist around whom all action revolves, to the minor character whose problems become insignificant. Stoppard’s main character’s Ros and Guil, were originally minor characters in Hamlet, enemies working for the antagonist. They had no developed personality making it difficult to discern between them. They are transformed into the main characters, protagonists, with differing interchangeable personalities, because they better represent the ‘common man’ allowing the audience to better relate to them.
A major theme in both plays is that of Fate and Destiny. In Hamlet there is the illusion of choice, Hamlet believing he has choices such as that to put on the ‘Antic Disposition’. For Stoppard’s Characters there is no choice or control. Ros and Guil look to others for direction and contemplate whether “there must have been a moment where we could have said no” We as an audience know their fate is sealed by the name of the play itself and that they have no control. In Hamlet there is belief in a master plan, a “divinity that shapes our ends.” In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead there is no such plan and no reason for events to occur, there is only the ‘meaningless existence’
In both plays the main characters resign to their destiny. When Hamlet says “How all occasions to inform against me and spur my dull revenge” he is resigning to the fact that circumstances are playing a part in his inability to avenge his father. Ros resigns to the fact that he must die saying “I don’t care, I’ve had enough…I’m Relieved”
Shakespeare uses a combination of prose and verse. Prose is used in times of less intense dramatic feeling such as the conversations with the grave digger. Verse is used in all other occasions as either blank or rhymed verse. Shakespeare often uses Soliloquies to offer insight into characters emotions and personality. One of Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquies is Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Soliloquy. In this he is contemplating suicide weighing up the advantages and disadvantages. He comes to the conclusion that life would be better after comparing death to an “undiscovered country” from which “no traveller returns”.
Stoppard manipulates Shakespeare’s language in order to allow his text to be better received and understood by the audience. Large portions of the original text can be found embedded within Stoppard’s text to add Contrast. For a more light-hearted approach some of Shakespeare’s text is modified. “I could be bound in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space were it not that I have bad dreams” becomes “He’s depressed, Denmark’s a prison and he’d rather live in a nutshell” to this effect. Stoppard also uses double entendre and puns on well known phrases in order to add to the ‘meaningless existence’ he creates.
Stoppard takes Shakespeare’s text, inverts the character roles, modifies the themes and manipulates the language to be better received by a modern audience.
This essay I wrote b y hand in 40mins then typed up. It comes to about 800 words and answers a generic, what has been transformed and why, type question. Any advice as well as a mark out of 20 would be much appreciated:
Shakespeare’s text Hamlet has been transformed by Stoppard into Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead to better suit the contemporary context. Characters, themes, language and setting have all been changed to better suit the new audience. While Shakespeare uses a form of Revenge Tragedy to tell Hamlet’s story, Stoppard uses Absurdist theatre to represent the pervading belief of meaningless existence. Stoppard transforms the setting from Shakespeare’s Castle in Denmark, to his ambiguous location. All of this is changed by Stoppard so that his play can be better received by the modern audience for which it was written.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet was written in the 16th century Humanist era and thus has elements of the beliefs and social attitudes of this time. This was a time of rebellion against authority as evident in the acts of regicide committed by Hamlet and Claudius. There was still some sense of faith in God as evident in Hamlet’s belief that “there’s a divinity that shapes our ends” Hamlet’s choice not to kill Claudius during prayer and the reasoning behind it shows that a belief in the afterlife also still existed in this period.
Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead was written in the 20th Century Existentialist period. A much darker form of Humanism, this was a period brought on by events such as the World Wars and the Great Depression. Following such events people questioned everything including existence. For the main characters, Rosencrantz (hereafter Ros) and Guildenstern (hereafter Guil), “its all questions” as they try to discern their place in a world unknown to them. This was a time when nothing could be counted upon as emphasised in the opening scene where not even the law of probability can be counted upon. Questions of death, life and what they mean place Stoppard’s text clearly within the Existentialist period.
The characters are transformed by Stoppard so that the audience can better relate to the main character. The main character in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, is transformed from the protagonist around whom all action revolves, to the minor character whose problems become insignificant. Stoppard’s main character’s Ros and Guil, were originally minor characters in Hamlet, enemies working for the antagonist. They had no developed personality making it difficult to discern between them. They are transformed into the main characters, protagonists, with differing interchangeable personalities, because they better represent the ‘common man’ allowing the audience to better relate to them.
A major theme in both plays is that of Fate and Destiny. In Hamlet there is the illusion of choice, Hamlet believing he has choices such as that to put on the ‘Antic Disposition’. For Stoppard’s Characters there is no choice or control. Ros and Guil look to others for direction and contemplate whether “there must have been a moment where we could have said no” We as an audience know their fate is sealed by the name of the play itself and that they have no control. In Hamlet there is belief in a master plan, a “divinity that shapes our ends.” In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead there is no such plan and no reason for events to occur, there is only the ‘meaningless existence’
In both plays the main characters resign to their destiny. When Hamlet says “How all occasions to inform against me and spur my dull revenge” he is resigning to the fact that circumstances are playing a part in his inability to avenge his father. Ros resigns to the fact that he must die saying “I don’t care, I’ve had enough…I’m Relieved”
Shakespeare uses a combination of prose and verse. Prose is used in times of less intense dramatic feeling such as the conversations with the grave digger. Verse is used in all other occasions as either blank or rhymed verse. Shakespeare often uses Soliloquies to offer insight into characters emotions and personality. One of Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquies is Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Soliloquy. In this he is contemplating suicide weighing up the advantages and disadvantages. He comes to the conclusion that life would be better after comparing death to an “undiscovered country” from which “no traveller returns”.
Stoppard manipulates Shakespeare’s language in order to allow his text to be better received and understood by the audience. Large portions of the original text can be found embedded within Stoppard’s text to add Contrast. For a more light-hearted approach some of Shakespeare’s text is modified. “I could be bound in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space were it not that I have bad dreams” becomes “He’s depressed, Denmark’s a prison and he’d rather live in a nutshell” to this effect. Stoppard also uses double entendre and puns on well known phrases in order to add to the ‘meaningless existence’ he creates.
Stoppard takes Shakespeare’s text, inverts the character roles, modifies the themes and manipulates the language to be better received by a modern audience.
