Anagnorisis and Existence (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) :: essays research papers

Anagnorisis and ExistenceThe Point of Realization in Stoppards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are DeadIn Shakespeares juncture, the young prince realizes what living is. Yea, from the table of my memory Ill wipe away all trivial fond records, 105 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and expression copied there And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmixd with baser matter ( village, I, v. 104-110)Upon realizing his fate that he must save the state of Denmark Hamlet must literally discard his prior knowledge and start anew. Aristotle argues that the exact moment when Hamlet realizes his fate by moving from innocence and ignorance to knowledge is the stimulate of tragedy in drama. Aristotles calls this realization that all humans must have anagnorisis. For all the moaning and a whining about his situation, Hamlet will fight whatsoever is rotten in the State of Denmark. (Hamlet, I, iv, 67) Though this self discove ry is integral in Shakespeares tragedy, Stoppards two characters do not even head their fate. And, the result of this lack of action and lack of any anagnorisis in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead when framed against the proactive Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes is an interesting commentary on human beings reactions to mortality. close is not romantic, and last is not a game which will soon be over Death is not anything death is not Its the absence of presence, nothing more the endless time of never coming back a gap you cant see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound. (R&D, 124)To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, death is lying in a box bored. Their inability to comprehend deaths complexity stems from the fact that even when alive, they are hardly present, barely wall hanging onto their existence. If we stopped breathing wed vanish. (R&D, 112)Part of Rosencrantz and Guildensterns lack of existence is Stoppards emphasis on the seeming interchangeability of thei r identities. However, whereas in Hamlet the King, Gertrude and Hamlet mistake the two for each other, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually mistake themselves. Their lack of identity leaves the two characters as not human they literally do nothing and do not develop. It is for that reason that, though they discover their fate, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern literally cannot die they dont actually exist. So, when the time comes for their fate to catch up to them, they literally disappear.