Friday, May 6, 2016

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead:

"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" is a play set around the themes of Shakespeare's Hamlet. As they wonder along on their journey they run into an acting troupe who offer them to participate in their show. This is where the real story begins as we are thrusted into this dreamlike state of the film.
Personally, I have no idea what this play is about on the surface level. It touches on so many different themes in my eyes that are even relevant today. The main theme I am aware us is the theme of chance and decision making. In the film they rely a lot on luck to make choices. They tossing of a coin signifies what is right and what is wrong. As a person who is relatively indecisive I follow this pattern a lot, although I understand how silly it can be to rely on luck for a lasting decision.
Another theme I find within the play is the inevitability of death. We all know that we're going to die at sometime, however we often don't know when, where, or how. The play reminds us of this, and that somewhere these details are already written into our story books, we're just waiting for that scene to come forth. 
The last thing I think of with this play is the blurred balance of being on a stage versus going about your daily life. Shakespeare himself is known for saying "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms." This theme was all over the movie. It would go from logical angles and plots to quickly shift even by walking into a different room, when you couldn't tell what world they were in in that moment.

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