Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Tom Stoppard
- First Published: 1967
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Existential
- Time of Work: 1600
- Setting: Denmark
- Principal Characters: Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, The Player, Alfred, Tragedians, Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia
- Genres: Existential literature, Drama, Problem play, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: Language or languages, Acting or actors, Communication, Religion, Denmark or Danish people, Sixteenth century, Existentialism, Drama or dramatists, Comedy, Mortality, Shakespeare, William, or Shakespearean plays
- Locales: Denmark
The Story:
In nondescript surroundings, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern gambled at tossing coins. Ro-sencrantz kept winning but remained calm about his unusual lucky streak. Guildenstern reflected uneasily about this apparent suspension of the laws of probability, which caused him to begin questioning the nature of the reality into which he and Rosencrantz had been plunged. They had no memory of past events, except for a vague recollection of having been sent for. Dismayed at being unable to account for themselves or their situation, they felt stranded and without direction.
...[The entire page is 2028 words long]
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