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Comparing Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

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This essay will discuss how fate and free will as existential concerns are interrogated in the views expressed by both Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, specific reference will be made to existential philosophy as a relevant analytical paradigm, intertextuality as a relevant theoretical paradigm, Hamlet’s soliloquys as a view of understanding his views of existential concerns and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s awareness of the process of life and death.
Existential philosophy as relevant analytical paradigm
Existentialist philosophy emerged in the 20th century and it analyses existence and the way humans find themselves existing in the world, the notion is that humans first exist and then the individual spends a lifetime changing their essence. Existentialism is about finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice and personal responsibility.
Hamlet explores existential questions like, who am i? What is mankind? What …show more content…

The influence of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is shown throughout Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Stoppard took two minor characters from Hamlet in order to give the audience the perspective of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Stoppard explores different themes throughout the play, examining the relationship between life and stage and free will versus determinism.
Stoppard also explored the most important theme of all which is evident in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy; existentialism.
One of the major themes in both plays is a loss of identity Ros and Guil are Dead reveal an intense anguish about loss of identity. Hamlet has a sense of intense anguish and mental suffering because of the sense that he has lost his identity.

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