Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. GUIL ( musing ) The law of probability, it has been oddly asserted, is something to do with the proposition that if six monkeys ( he has surprised himself ) . . . if six monkeys were . . . ROS Game? GUIL Were they? ROS Are you? GUIL ( understanding ) Game. ( Flips a coin .) The law of averages, if I have got this right, means that if six monkeys were thrown up in the air for long enough they would land on their tails about as often as they would land on their— ROS Heads. ( He picks up the coin .) GUIL Which even at first glance does not strike one as a particularly rewarding speculation, in either sense, even without the monkeys. I mean you wouldn’t bet on it. I mean I would, but you wouldn’t. . . . ROS Heads. . . . . . . ( He looks up at Guil—embarrassed laugh .) Getting a bit of a bore, isn’t it? Which statement best explains how the conflicting perspectives in this excerpt will move the story forward?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. GUIL ( more intensely ) We have been spinning coins together since—( He releases him almost as violently .) This is not the first time we have spun coins! ROS Oh no—We’ve been spinning coins for as long as I remember. GUIL How long is that? ROS I forget. Mind you—eighty-five times! GUIL Yes? ROS It’ll take some beating, I imagine. GUIL Is that what you imagine? Is that it? No fear? ROS Fear? GUIL ( in fury—flings a coin on the ground ) Fear! The crack that might flood your brain with light! Which statement best explains why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have different opinions about the coin toss?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. ROS ( flaring ): I haven’t forgotten—how I used to remember my own name—and yours, oh yes! There were answers everywhere you looked . There was no question about it—people knew who I was and if they didn’t they asked and I told them. . . . [ ROS ] I don’t care one way or another, so why don’t you make up your mind. GUIL We can’t afford anything quite so arbitrary. Nor did we come all this way for a christening. All that —preceded us. But we are comparatively fortunate; we might have been left to sift the whole field of human nomenclature, like two blind men looting a bazaar for their own portraits. . . . At least we are presented with alternatives. ROS Well as from now— GUIL —But not choice. ROS You made me look ridiculous in there. How do Rosencrantz’s feelings about his conversation with the king and queen develop in this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. ROS Well I can tell you I’m sick to death of it. I don’t care one way or another, so why don’t you make up your mind. GUIL We can’t afford anything quite so arbitrary. Nor did we come all this way for a christening. All that —preceded us. But we are comparatively fortunate; we might have been left to sift the whole field of human nomenclature, like two blind men looting a bazaar for their own portraits. . . . At least we are presented with alternatives. ROS Well as from now— GUIL —But not choice. ROS You made me look ridiculous in there. GUIL I looked just as ridiculous as you did. ROS ( an anguished cry ) Consistency is all I ask! GUIL ( low, wry rhetoric ) Give us this day our daily mask. ROS ( a dying fall ) I want to go home. ( Moves .) Which way did we come in? I’ve lost my sense of direction. GUIL The only beginning is birth and the only end is death—if you can’t count on that, what can you count on? Which statement best explains why Rosencrantz’s and Guildenstern’s feelings conflict?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. ROS ( dumbly ) Eighty-five in a row. Tails? GUIL Yes! What would you think? ROS ( doubtfully ) Well. . . . ( Jocularly .) Well, I’d have a good look at your coins for a start! GUIL ( retiring ) I’m relieved. At least we can still count on self-interest as a predictable factor. . . . I suppose it’s the last to go. Your capacity for trust made me wonder if perhaps . . . you, alone . . . ( He turns on him suddenly, reaches out a hand .) Touch. Ros clasps his hand. Guil pulls him up to him. GUIL ( more intensely ) We have been spinning coins together since—( He releases him almost as violently .) This is not the first time we have spun coins! Which statement best describes how Guildenstern’s perspective about Rosencrantz develops?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. GERTRUDE Good ( fractional suspense ) gentlemen . . . They both bow. He hath much talked of you, And sure I am, two men there is not living To whom he more adheres. If it will please you To show us so much gentry and goodwill As to expand your time with us awhile For the supply and profit of our hope, Your visitation shall receive such thanks As fits a king’s remembrance. . . . [ GERTRUDE ] And I beseech you instantly to visit My too much changed son. Go, some of you, And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. Which statement best describes how Gertrude feels about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. ROS I’m afraid— GUIL So am I. ROS I’m afraid it isn’t your day. GUIL I’m afraid it is. Small pause. ROS Eighty-nine. GUIL It must be indicative of something, besides the redistribution of wealth. ( He muses .) List of possible explanations. One: I’m willing it. Inside where nothing shows, I am the essence of a man spinning double-headed coins, and betting against himself in private atonement for an unremembered past. . . . [ GUIL ] Two: time has stopped dead, and the single experience of one coin being spun once has been repeated ninety times. What is the most likely reason Guildenstern and Rosencrantz feel differently about the result of the coin toss?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. GUIL Exactly, it’s a matter of asking the right questions and giving away as little as we can. It’s a game. ROS And then we can go? GUIL And receive such thanks as fits a king’s remembrance. ROS I like the sound of that. What do you think he means by remembrance? Which statement best explains why Rosencrantz’s perspective about his and Guildenstern’s task changes?
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. [ CLAUDIUS ] The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty sending. . . . Something have you heard Of Hamlet’s transformation, so call it, Sith nor th’exterior nor the inward man Resembles that it was. What it should be, More than his father’s death, that thus hath put him, So much from th’understanding of himself, I cannot dream of. I entreat you both That, being of so young days brought up with him And sith so neighboured to his youth and haviour That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court Some little time, so by your companies To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather So much as from occasion you may glean, Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus, That opened lies within our remedy. Which lines from the excerpt best show Claudius’s attitude toward Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
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