Starting off a story with two characters playing Heads or Tails and having said characters get heads more than 90 times in a row? You know this is going to be a good one.
I'm writing this as I read, and right off the bat I'm noticing elements characteristic of Theater of the Absurd...
I'm writing this as I read, and right off the bat I'm noticing elements characteristic of Theater of the Absurd...
GUIL gets up but has nowhere to go. He spins another coin over his shoulder without looking at it, his attention being directed at his environment or lack of it.
The very beginning also denotes that Ros & Guil are "in a place without any visible character."
Next, Guil is spouting off a metric ton of meta-theatrical phrases.
Next, Guil is spouting off a metric ton of meta-theatrical phrases.
We have been spinning coins together since I don't know when, and in all that time (if it is all that time) I don't suppose either of us was more than a couple of gold pieces up or down.
He's bordering on being consciously aware that he's a character in a play, nearly shattering the "fourth wall."
Another portion that really struck me was:
Another portion that really struck me was:
Practically starting from scratch... An awakening, a man standing on his saddle to bang on the shutters, our names shouted in a certain dawn, a message, a summons... A new record for pitch and toss. We have not been.. picked out... simply to be abandoned... set loose to find our own way... We are entitled to some direction... I would have thought.
I could just be over-analyzing here, but to me this sounds like a reflection on the duo's birth. If you think about it, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never appear in Hamlet until they are summoned by King Claudius. So the first time they appear onstage is when they first exist; when they are brought into the world for the first time. For them to be born and suddenly have no sense of direction sounds like something that real people experience in life. You're born and exist for a while, and then you typically wonder what path your life is taking, usually after you've been "abandoned" by those older than you who previously gave you a sense of direction.
I have a question regarding the following passage:
I have a question regarding the following passage:
"The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a
mystical experience shared by everybody" - demolish.
Is this an allusion? Was Guildenstern quoting someone/something, or is this just another one of his musings?
I love when Ros accidentally mixes up his and Guil's names. Possibly a jab at how the two combined make up one identity in Hamlet? If you postulate this, then really it doesn't matter who is who, they're both half of a whole. Ironically enough, in this play, however, they do seem to have separate personalities, as Guil is a deep-thinker while Ros just seems to be passively amused with everything so far.
Actually, this brings up what I'm predicting will become a motif— coins, or "two sides of the same coin." One of the tragedians actually mentions it--
I love when Ros accidentally mixes up his and Guil's names. Possibly a jab at how the two combined make up one identity in Hamlet? If you postulate this, then really it doesn't matter who is who, they're both half of a whole. Ironically enough, in this play, however, they do seem to have separate personalities, as Guil is a deep-thinker while Ros just seems to be passively amused with everything so far.
Actually, this brings up what I'm predicting will become a motif— coins, or "two sides of the same coin." One of the tragedians actually mentions it--
For some of us it is performance, for others, patronage. They
are two sides of the same coin, or, let us say, being as there are so many
of us, the same side of two coins.
Apart from referencing the beginning of the play and the duo's betting game, it may also be referencing to the duo themselves, as they seem to be exactly that.
I appreciate the continuity between this play and Hamlet; although they both technically tell the same story, just from a different point of view. Nonetheless, the presence of the players is something that Ros & Guil originally knew about in Hamlet, and fittingly enough, here the two are the first ones to know about it.
The scene with the actors was hilarious, actually. Poor Alfred.
I appreciate the continuity between this play and Hamlet; although they both technically tell the same story, just from a different point of view. Nonetheless, the presence of the players is something that Ros & Guil originally knew about in Hamlet, and fittingly enough, here the two are the first ones to know about it.
The scene with the actors was hilarious, actually. Poor Alfred.
That does it for my first blog post! Join me next time as the main characters of this play's prequel become side characters!