Can you guys think of any other references to things we've read in class we've yet to discuss?
Monday, March 21, 2011
allusions
As we discussed in class today, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to make sense of the absurdity that happens. When they find the second letter calling for their executions, they don't take action to prevent their own death. As the law of probability mentioned earlier in the play states, we want things to make sense. We try to talk our way into reasoning. However, they don't always work out the way they are "supposed" to. I couldn't help but by reminded of Pangloss from Candide. He always made philosophies fit his circumstances. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are similar to Pangloss in this sense because they are trying to create order in absurdity.
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I, once again, was reminded of "Notes from Underground." Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spend a majority of their time philosophizing and searching for the meaning of life. Unfortunatley, they live in a world where it is nearly impossible to find such meaning or accomplish something productive. However, when given the opportunity to act and possibly create meaning in their lives, such as the moments when they read the two different execution letters, they fail to act and choose to fall back upon fate. Likewise, in "Notes from Underground," the Underground Man profoundly philosophizes about the human condition but fails to act according to his principles.
Like I mentioned in class, the ambiguity of identity in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" reminds me of the ambiguity in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Rosencrantz and Guildenstern constantly confuse each other's personnas and cannot even keep their own memories separated from one another. The reader feels just as lost as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while trying to make sense of their puzzling diction and musings on life. Similarly, when trying to interpet "Heart of Darkness," the reader cannot easily discern Conrad's intentions or the true origin of evil.
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" contains many ideas similar to those of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," such as the meaninglessness of life, identity issues, and even problems with human connection. Throughout the novella, Kafka made Gregor focus on ordinary details, in order to prevent him from seeing the big picture and realizing that life was meaningless. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern constantly searched for the meaning of life, but could never find it. Then in Kafka's work, identity issues arose when Gregor's bug-form could not be categorized by readers into a specific type of insect. This theme rang throughout R&G, as the two characters were often used interchangeably, because they had to memory of the past on which to base themselves. Also, problems with human connection emerge in "The Metamorphosis" when the family assumes that Gregor cannot understand them and in R&G, since language has recognizable limits.
I think that the entire situation where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves partially responsible for their own fates to be remarkably similar to situations straight out of Greek drama. Ros and Guil accept their fates as possessing the power of law: just as Oedipus was powerless to resist the power of divine decrees, so are they unable to fight against their own deaths. Therefore, they disappear from the stage when their appointed times have evidently come.
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