Act II begins!
Hamlet spoilers below the Read More.
Hamlet spoilers below the Read More.
GUIL: [Hamlet] caught us on the wrong foot once or twice, perhaps, but I thought we gained some ground.
ROS (simply): He murdered us.
Well, you're not wrong, Ros. Hamlet does end up being responsible for the duo's deaths.
We also get a scene in which the two have quite literally gotten lost again, linking back once again to their metaphorical loss of direction.
We also get a scene in which the two have quite literally gotten lost again, linking back once again to their metaphorical loss of direction.
I noticed an ironic line that could potentially be some foreshadowing:
I merely suggest that the position of the sun, if it is out, would give you a rough idea of the time;
alternatively, the clock, if it is going, would give you a rough idea of the position of the sun. I forget which
you're trying to establish.
I love the transition from trying to analyze Hamlet's crazy-talk to abruptly launching into an existential crisis. Granted, I realize that's pretty much the whole play, but still.
Also, something I forgot to mention in my earlier posts is rearing its head again here... Rosencrantz seems to have a faulty memory. (cough cough Pozzo cough) Guil will ask a question and he'll constantly just be like
Also, something I forgot to mention in my earlier posts is rearing its head again here... Rosencrantz seems to have a faulty memory. (cough cough Pozzo cough) Guil will ask a question and he'll constantly just be like
However, so far in this act, it seems like Ros is becoming a little more aware of everything.
(A good pause. ROS leaps up and bellows at the audience.)
ROS: Fire!
(GUIL jumps up.)
GUIL: Where?
ROS: It's all right - I'm demonstrating the misuse of free speech. To prove that it exists. (He regards the
audience, that is the direction, with contempt - and other directions, then front again.) Not a move. They should burn to death in their shoes.
Holy cow! Talk about shouting fire in a crowded theatre. That's a whole new level of meta.
If you ask me, this seems like a very clear reference to the Schenck v. United States case, or at least the phrase coined following the event.
If you ask me, this seems like a very clear reference to the Schenck v. United States case, or at least the phrase coined following the event.
We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show our
progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.
Don't you see?! We're actors - we're the opposite of people!
Oh man. Things just got too real. This line, mind you, is spoken by an actor playing as an actor. Granted, he could just be talking about the Tragedians, but it soon becomes pretty clear that he's really addressing Ros and Guil...
Think, in your head, now, think of the most... private... secret... intimate... thing you have ever done secure in the knowledge of its privacy... (He gives them - and the audience - a good pause. ROS takes a shifty look.) Are you thinking of it? (He strikes with his voice and his head.) Well, I saw you do it!
Again, this could be referring to the fact that the time they have on stage is the extent of their characters' lives.
Another thought I'm having as I'm reading the player's next speech (which is way too long to paste in here) is whether or not these are the same Tragedians that they saw earlier. This could be a stretch, but perhaps the actors the duo is talking to right now just came from Hamlet?
Does that make sense? Here, I drew a little diagram in Paint:
Another thought I'm having as I'm reading the player's next speech (which is way too long to paste in here) is whether or not these are the same Tragedians that they saw earlier. This could be a stretch, but perhaps the actors the duo is talking to right now just came from Hamlet?
Does that make sense? Here, I drew a little diagram in Paint:
These actors seem a lot more serious and self-aware than the ones they spoke to earlier. Maybe the groups just... switched? I don't know, just an odd theory.
Actually, there seems to be a little bit of evidence to support this:
Actually, there seems to be a little bit of evidence to support this:
PLAYER: We already have an entry here. And always have had.
GUIL: You've played for him before?
PLAYER: Yes, sir.
We also have another really nice exchange between the duo and the player:
PLAYER: Uncertainty is the normal state. You're nobody special.
(He makes to leave again. GUIL loses his cool.)
GUIL: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?
First of all, I love how it literally says Guil "loses his cool." Made me chuckle.
Next, we have another example of Ros & Guil supporting the thought that they apparently lack purpose in this world. I especially appreciate the Player's first line. I can relate.
Next, we have another example of Ros & Guil supporting the thought that they apparently lack purpose in this world. I especially appreciate the Player's first line. I can relate.
GUIL: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.
PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken
to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.
Gorgeous line. This is a bit of a tangent, but it kind of reminds me of how America's real-life currency (as in, the dollar bill), is not backed by silver, gold, or anything but trust. "In God we trust..." that these pieces of paper are worth something, and, consequently how lives are made and broken.
GUIL: (Fascist.) Nobody leaves this room!
Snort. That's an... interesting way to describe speech.
ROS: It could go on for ever. Well, not for ever, I suppose. (Pause.) Do you ever think of yourself as actually
dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
GUIL: No.
Again, there's another section that's way too wordy to copy fully into here, but it's great and uncomfortable. It's confronting the thoughts of being dead that we all have from time to time... Ah jeez. Nothing freaks me out more than thinking about what happens after I die...
ROS: I wouldn't think about it, if I were you. You'd only get depressed. (Pause.) Eternity is a terrible
thought. I mean, where's it going to end?
Huh, that sounds familiar.
We have no control. None at all.... (He paces.) Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one, a moment, in childhood when it first occurred to you that you don't go on for ever. It must have been shattering - stamped into one's memory. And yet I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. What does one make of that? We must be born with an intuition of mortality.
Well jeez. We're not holding anything back now anymore, huh? Funny how the most significant of the duo's exchanges always seem to happen when nothing (plot-wise) is going on. Something out of nothing, if you will...
Before we know the words for it, before we know that there are words, out we come, bloodied and squalling with the knowledge that for all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.
Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Honestly though, some of these lines are just so damn poetic that I can't help but just...
And, again, this is Ros that's saying all of this. Guil seems to be significantly quieter in this act, so far. Interesting that they essentially switched roles.
GUIL: What is the dumbshow for?
PLAYER: Well, it's a device, really - it makes the action that follows more or less comprehensible; you
understand, we are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.
Ah, look. This portion of text reflects on another absurdist belief: Language is ineffective/futile for communication.
PLAYER: Do you call that an ending? - with practically everyone on his feet? My goodness no - over your dead
body.
GUIL: How am I supposed to take that?
PLAYER: Lying down.
Oh look, the irony train has arrived. Lord knows a Shakespearean tragedy isn't over until at least 5 people are dead.
GUIL: Who decides?
PLAYER (switching off his smile): Decides? It is written.
Here again, the actor is probably talking about the play being performed within the play being performed, but at the same time, could also very well be talking about the play the audience is watching.
I'll stop there for now considering things immediately afterwards get... weird. But anyways, let's hope the next section is just as earthshatteringly awesome.
I'll stop there for now considering things immediately afterwards get... weird. But anyways, let's hope the next section is just as earthshatteringly awesome.