Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Rosencrantz: A school friend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, called by the King. Originally played by David Marks.
• Guildenstern: A school friend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, called by the King. Originally played by Clive Cable.
• The Player: A player. Leader of the Tragedians Originally played by Jules Roach
• The Tragedians: A company of players. Originally played by Ron Forfar, Nic Renton and Howard Daubney.
• Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. Originally played by John Dodgson.
• Ophelia: Noblewoman of Denmark, daughter of Polonius, lover of Hamlet. Originally played by Janet Watts.
• Claudius: King of Denmark (after having murdered his brother, King Hamlet, and marrying his sister, the Queen) and Hamlet's uncle. Originally played by Nick Elliot
• Gertrude: Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother. Originally played by Francis Morrow.
• Polonius: Advisor to the King and Ophelia's father. Originally played by Walter Merricks.

Quotes edit see section history

• “...There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said--no. But somehow, we missed it.”

  Guildenstern

• “Rosencrantz: What are you playing at?Guildenstern: Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.”

• “Uncertainty is the normal state. You’re nobody special.”

• “Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in.”

• “Life is a gamble, at terrible odds—if it was a bet you wouldn’t take it.”

• “Guildenstern: We’ve travelled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hope of explanation.Rosencrantz: Be happy—if you’re not even happy what’s so good about surviving? We’ll be all right. I suppose we just go on.”

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• The only beginning is birth and the only end is death-if you can't count on that, what can you count on?

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• Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are . . . condemned. Each move is dictated by the previous one-that is the meaning of order.

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• They're hardly divisible, sir-well, I can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory-they're all blood, you see.

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• I'm relieved. At least we can still count on self-interest as a predictable factor.... I suppose it's the last to go.

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• We must be born with an intuition of mortality. 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.

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• Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?

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• PLAYER: We keep to our usual stuff, more or less, only inside out. We do on stage the things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else.

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• England
• Denmark

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Life vs. Stage: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Tom Stoppard (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 822.914

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Drama › British & Irish › Modern
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( S ) › Stoppard, Tom
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › British

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead (IMDb): 2009
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (IMDb): 1990

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history