Once you've read "Hamlet," "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" will be easier. Stoppard's play retells Hamlet's story from the viewpoint of two of Hamlet's friends--R and G. They get caught up in the "play" of Hamlet and seemingly cannot escape it. Try to remember that this play was written in the 1960s when youth had severe trust issues with the "older generation." The Vietnam War was raging and youth were "dropping out" and choosing NOT to let the older generation write a script for their lives. Stoppard would want you to think about who is writing the script of your life. Will you, like R and G, get caught up in someone else's script for you and be doomed to follow it? Or will you write your own script? Please not that the play suggests that R and G are doomed to repeat their roles in "Hamlet" again and again...
Once you've read "Hamlet," "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" will be easier. Stoppard's play retells Hamlet's story from the viewpoint of two of Hamlet's friends--R and G. They get caught up in the "play" of Hamlet and seemingly cannot escape it. Try to remember that this play was written in the 1960s when youth had severe trust issues with the "older generation." The Vietnam War was raging and youth were "dropping out" and choosing NOT to let the older generation write a script for their lives. Stoppard would want you to think about who is writing the script of your life. Will you, like R and G, get caught up in someone else's script for you and be doomed to follow it? Or will you write your own script? Please not that the play suggests that R and G are doomed to repeat their roles in "Hamlet" again and again...
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