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Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead Essay

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The play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” use the themes of death and fate versus free will. The two themes tend to overlap each other in the play.The two characters have no control of their live and what choices are made for them. They didn’t get to decide whether or not they wanted to go to the castle, or spy on Hamlet, or accompany Hamlet to England, and they certainly didn’t get to decide how or when they were going to die. The play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” follow the two supporting characters from “Hamlet” as they act as spies to Hamlet. The two characters don’t understand why they are there and what their purpose is. They also have a difficult time distinguishing who they are as people. In some scenes they don’t even know their own names. This is because they have no real identity. The two characters are merely small parts in somebody else’s play. When the two characters are not trying to figure out who they are, they are being manipulated by the people around them. The two characters ask questions to try to piece together the pieces and figure out what their purpose is. Though in the end the characters have no say in how their lives are lived. One of the main themes in the play is death. The characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern think about death a lot even though they don’t fully understand it. On page 108 Rosencrantz ask, “Do you think death can possibly be on a boat?” Guildenstern then responds to the question saying, “No, no, no…Death is…not. Death isn’t. You take my meaning. Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can’t not-be on a boat.” This exchange between the two characters shows how the idea of death is a mystery to everyone. The two characters are contemplating death a lot even though they have no idea what it will be like. I know personally whenever I think about death it seems so far away and not something even worth thinking about because as long as I am living I will not know what death is like. Something interesting in the quote from Guildenstern is how he is hesitant when answering the question. Out of the two Guildenstern always seemed the more in control of things and even he doesn’t have a real answer about what death is like. Another

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