Read the excerpt from Act II of Hamlet. Hamlet: I’ll observe his looks; I’ll tent him to the quick: if he but blench I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy— As he is very potent with such spirits— Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds More relative than this: the play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.GUIL Till events have played themselves out. There’s a logic at work—it’s all done for you, don’t worry. Enjoy it. Relax. To be taken in hand and led, like being a child again, even without the innocence, a child—it’s like being given a prize, an extra slice of childhood when you least expect it, as a prize for being good, or compensation for never having had one. . . . Do I contradict myself?
A student analyzing the appearance of the ghost in Act I of Hamlet includes this sentence in the analysis.Death conquers everyone.
Read the excerpt from Act IV of Hamlet.Claudius: I ha ’t: When in your motion you are hot and dry,— As make your bouts more violent to that end,— And that he calls for drink, I’ll have prepar’d him A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,If he by chance escape your venom’d stuck, Our purpose may hold there.
Read the excerpts from Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.Excerpt 1[GERTRUDE] Good gentlemen, >he hath much talk’d of you,And sure I am two men there are not livingTo whom he more adheres. If it will please youTo show us so much gentry and good willAs to expend your time with us awhile,For the supply and profit of our hope,Your visitation shall receive such thanksAs fits a king’s remembrance.Excerpt 2GUIL 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?GUIL He doesn’t forget his friends.ROS Would you care to estimate?GUIL Difficult to say, really—some kings tend to be amnesiac, others I suppose—the opposite, whatever that is. . . .ROS Yes—but—GUIL Elephantine . . . ?ROS Not how long—how much?GUIL Retentive—he’s a very retentive king, a royal retainer . . .
What are conflicting perspectives in a literary text?
How can characters’ perspectives be revealed in a play?
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 livingTo whom he more adheres. If it will please youTo show us so much gentry and goodwillAs to expand your time with us awhileFor the supply and profit of our hope,Your visitation shall receive such thanksAs fits a king’s remembrance. . . .[GERTRUDE] And I beseech you instantly to visitMy too much changed son. Go, some of you,And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.ROS (dumbly) Eighty-five in a row. Tails?/p>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!
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!
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.ROS Shouldn’t we be doing something—constructive?GUIL What did you have in mind? . . . A short, blunt human pyramid . . . ?ROS We could go.GUIL Where?ROS After him.GUIL Why? They’ve got us placed now—if we start moving around, we’ll all be chasing each other all night.Hiatus.ROS (at footlights) How very intriguing! (Turns.) I feel like a spectator—an appalling business. The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute. . . .GUIL See anyone?ROS No. You?GUIL No. (At footlights.) What a fine persecution—to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.[CLAUDIUS] The need we have to use you did provokeOur hasty sending. . . .Something have you heardOf Hamlet’s transformation, so call it,Sith nor th’exterior nor the inward manResembles 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 bothThat, being of so young days brought up with himAnd sith so neighboured to his youth and haviourThat you vouchsafe your rest here in our courtSome little time, so by your companiesTo draw him on to pleasures, and to gatherSo much as from occasion you may glean,Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus,That opened lies within our remedy.
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. POLONIUS The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, are joyfully returned.CLAUDIUS Thou still hast been the father of good news.POLONIUS Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,I hold my duty as I hold my soul,Both to my God and to my gracious King;And I do think, or else this brain of mineHunts not the trail of policy so sureAs it hath used to do, that I have foundThe very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.
Read the excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.ROS I want to go home.GUIL Don’t let them confuse you.ROS I’m out of my step here—GUIL We’ll soon be home and high—dry and home—I’ll—ROS It’s all over my depth—GUIL —I’ll hie you home and—ROS —out of my head—GUIL —dry you high and—ROS (cracking, high) —over my step over my head body!—I tell you it’s all stopping to a death, it’s boding to a depth, stepping to a head, it’s all heading to a dead stop—GUIL (the nursemaid) There! . . . and we’ll soon be home and dry . . . and high and dry.
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 can conflicting perspectives affect a drama?
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?
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?
What is a character’s perspective?
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