Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Discussion Questions

PRIMER

1. What do you already know about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from the play Hamlet? What do they do? What are they like? What do we know about them already?
2. One of the major points of R & G are Dead is to ask existential questions about all of our favorite AP Lit themes (life, death, individual meaning, humanity, etc.).
Why use these specific characters to explore these ideas? Why use Hamlet?
ACT 1

3. The setting of the first act is introduced as having “without any visible character.” Why do you think this is? What does a setting-less stage do for the audience’s
understanding of the play?
4. The flipping of coins at the beginning of the play does two things for the audience; (1)establishes the characters, and (2)indicates the nature of Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern’s world. Explain how it does each of these things:
1 – What do we learn about the two main characters from the flipping of coins, and their reactions to this activity?
2 – What do we learn about the nature of their world from this activity? What could this be indicative of?
5. On page 17, Guil says that "The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defense against the pure emotion of fear." What does this mean? Why
mention it? What is he afraid of?
6. While it seems to fit into the Absurdist structure of the play, when Guil asks Ros “What is the first thing that you remember?” he is making a comment about their
existence. What do they determine IS the first thing they remember, and what does it tell us about the nature of the play? About the nature of their existence? About
the nature of our existence?
7. Why does Guildenstern tell a story about unicorns, a mythical creature, just before the arrival of the players?
8. The arrival of the players not only introduces the other main character of the play (The Player) but also signifies the beginning of Stoppard’s desire to toy with the
nature of art, theater, and their connection to reality. Think about it. What do YOU expect from actors? What do Ros and Guil expect from the players, and what do
they find out?
9. On page 32, Guildenstern talks to Alfred while looking at the audience, and says “You and I, Alfred – we could create a dramatic precedent here.” How does this line
work, both (1) in the world of the play, and (2) for the audience viewing the play? Are the characters meant to be AWARE that they’re in a play? Why/Why not?
10. By page 35 Ros and Guil have confused have their names confused twice, once by Ros, and once by the king and queen. What does this confusion (and their
reactions to is) show us about the characters?
11. On page 35, Ros and Guil find that they have wandered into what we know as Act II of Hamlet. Does it seem like they know what’s going on in Elsinore? How do
they try to reason through it? (think about what we know about the process of reason so far.)
12. While staring at the footlights, Rosencrantz makes an interesting comment about being “a spectator”. What comment is he making about… his situation? …the
audience? …life?
13. As the events of R & G take place between the events of Hamlet, a large portion of Stoppard’s play emphasizes the passing of time, and in order to do so, the
characters like to “play at questions.” While for Ros it’s a game, and for Guil it’s a way to alleviate fear, for Stoppard it’s a way to insert an idea about life, and the
passage of time between the ‘major events’ therein. What is Stoppard’s meaning?
14. Despite playing questions and role-playing a discussion (in which Guil plays Hamlet) in order to figure out what’s wrong with him, they make little progress in their
understanding before the arrival of Hamlet and Polonius. Moreover, when they finally see Hamlet, he mistakes their names. How does this, and everything you’ve
seen in Act I, show us Stoppard’s critique of Shakespeare, and our expectations of theater?

ACT 2

1. In Act II, Stoppard continues to play with the idea of language. On page 57, Ros and Guil apply the rules of their game of questions to the conversation that they just
had with Hamlet (which requires previous knowledge of Hamlet). When they role-played an interview with Hamlet (Act I), they seemed to easily discern his
affliction, but what happened when they actually spoke with him? What do they take away from their discussion?
2. On page 57, they begin discussion of the famous line “I am but mad north northwest; when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.” What do they
discuss as they try to find meaning in Hamlet’s words, and what does it show us about the absurdity of their position?
 3. By shouting “Fire!” at the audience (page 60), Ros breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to and about the audience. What is Stoppard trying to remind the
audience of/ make them think about by inserting this interruption? (Think about the nature of plays and acting)
4. The Player is reunited with Ros and Guil on page 62-65(ish), where they learn that he is upset that they left them in the woods, acting without an audience. What
does the Player’s concern show about the nature of humanity, and how is this reinforced (or undermined) by Guil’s ironic response to him on page 64?
5. What life lessons do we learn from the Player in Act II?
6. When the Player demands the dumbshow (page 77), he explains that it’s a device used to make the action of a play comprehensible. What comment is Stoppard
making about language and acting, and how are these points emphasized in the pages following?
7. The dumshow that the players put on is the plot of Hamlet, which presents us with a quandary. How can a play (the dumbshow) showing the plot of a play (Hamlet)
exist within a play (R&G are Dead) designed to take place in between the events of a play (Hamlet)? What is it that Stoppard is attempting to show us about the
nature of life? Acting? Theater? Reality? Our own preconceptions with all of the above?
8. On page 84, Guil confronts the Player with the idea that “You can’t act death.” What is his argument?
9. The fact that Ros and Guil don’t recognize their own characters in the dumbshow is key to the audience’s understanding of the play. Despite staring his double in the
eye, Ros still sees him as a fated spy, not a reflection of himself. How does this add to our understanding of the nature fate as it’s shown in the play? What is
Stoppard trying to tell his audience?
ACT 3
1. In the beginning of Act 3, R & G find themselves on a boat. What part of Hamlet are they currently in? What happened during this part of the original play?
2. Guil’s long(ish) speech on 101 is presented as a moment of clarity (“we have not been cut loose”). Does Guildenstern understand their fate/position within the story,
or is he simply postulating? How do you know?
3. In re-enacting their meeting with the King of England, Ros and Guil discover the content of the letter – that they are delivering Hamlet to his death. What do they
choose to do with the letter, and why?
4. Hamlet is in this entire Act (until he disappears during the Pirate attack), but he has no lines. Why does Stoppard choose to include this otherwise iconic character in
the scene, but make him – essentially – into a set-piece?
5. After the Player’s dramatic “death”, he explains “…you see, it is the kind they do believe in – it’s what’s expected.” This notion of expectation is toyed with
throughout the play. What expectations does the audience of a play have about death? What expectations do individuals have about death? How does this play
challenge these ideas? Why do Ros and Guil simply disappear?
6. Is Guildenstern right when he says, “There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said—no”?
7. Why does Stoppard choose to end the play with some of the final lines of Hamlet? How do Horatio’s lines reflect the concepts/lines from this play? What meaning
can be found therein?
8. When the Ambassador delivers the line “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” Horatio learns what we’ve known all along. Having read the play (both plays,
actually), why do you think that Stoppard chose this line as his title?
9. What are the overall themes and purpose of this play?

BIG QUESTIONS – POST-PLAY

1. Shakespeare scholars have long debated whether the Hamlet of Shakespeare’s play is truly mad. How does Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead deal with the
question of Hamlet’s madness? Does Stoppard present Hamlet as sane or insane? Why?
2. Does the play ultimately suggest that we can overcome the randomness of the world? Or does it advocate accepting chance into our lives?
3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not heroes in any traditional sense, but do they do anything that the play presents as heroic? If so, what?
4. What is the significance of the Player in the play? Why does Stoppard present him as such an enigmatic figure?
5. The play depicts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as making a mistake when they do nothing about the letter regarding Hamlet’s death. Within the world of the play,
what other options do they have? What opportunities does Stoppard give them for altering the outcomes of their lives?