Essay On Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

In Elisabeth A. Meyer’s thesis entitled “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: Post Modern Analysis” (1991) she argues that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1964) is a postmodern play. Elizabeth Meyer states that because postmodernism itself evolves from modernism it shares similar attributes that aid us in determining when a piece of literature is postmodern. Postmodern like modernism is a movement in which there is a certain distrust of conventional theories and seeks to break classical ways. These attributes include signs of poststructuralism, which is best described as the inconsistency of concept meanings, well as attempts to find self-identity. Elisabeth Meyer begins her argument by first ensuring that her audience understands …show more content…
Like modernism, absurdist style writing appeared shortly after 1930. After the loss of a stable social structure, people began to question how reliable the human psyche was. This loss of reliability turned into existential thinking, which is very often an indicator of absurdist writing. With existentialism, people began to question their purpose, this was often portrayed in extreme ways through absurdist writing. Which includes… Some of the common elements found in absurdist writing include satire, incongruity, dark humor, and in cases like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the search of purpose. The entirety of the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, seems to lack an actual story line apart from Hamlet. Instead the play seems to focus on the many conversations had by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as they float by attached to the Hamlet plot. The multiple games played by them both throughout the play such as the flipping of the coin show their lack of purpose and centers in on their idle waiting. As the story progresses we see instances where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern both acknowledge they’re lack of purpose and search for cues from a higher power. Such as the scene within the first Act, just after both characters have been brought to new place. Guildenstern states, "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" (20). Within this quote Guildenstern acknowledges their lack of purpose without direction. This loss of purpose is consistent throughout the play and within the final Act we watch as both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern desperately search for reason or propose in hopes to save themselves from the inevitable death that awaits