One of the most interesting scenes from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern is when the two are watching the play The Murder of Gonzago. When the two see the two actors who are playing the spies in the play, they do not recognize them. Rosencrantz gets really close to them and notices that they are very peculiar and swears that he has seen their faces before. Although the two are playing out the exact roles of Ros & Guild and even wear the same clothes as them, the two are still unable to make the connection. The idea of identity is a huge theme and these two men cannot even remember their own names. It is very interesting indeed.
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In addition to identity, I think this scene recalls the idea that Sara mentioned of plays within plays. It's pretty hard to grasp the idea of these various levels of reality. Stoppard very cleverly uses these levels to create a very interesting post modern view on the limitations of plays.
I completly miss things easily with this kind of stuff. This scene really threw me. The layers of plays were intresting; there's the play that's being preformed (R&G are dead) within Hamlet then also within Hamlet is the Murder of Gonzago then within that is the dumbshow which has within it the plot of Hamlet which is really the plot of R&G are dead. This is just a inresting mess of nesting doll plays. What's really inresting to me is that in the play, the players are actors and die over and over convincingly without really dying, in reality this is a play and Ros and Guil are actors who die over and over without ever dying. You know that line about all the world being a stage? Maybe this play is trying to screw with what is precived as reality through it's layers a little bit like the layered dreams in Inception...
I initially didnt pay much attention to this scene, but thinking about it now I can see how it is really important. It definitly shows how Ros and Guil had identy problems but I also think it reflects the idea that people act the way other people want them to act. The people that looked like Ros and Guil were actors and by this I think Stoppard is suggesting that Ros and Guil act the way others want them to.
Yea identity is definitely stressed throughout the play. Their actions don't matter, their questions aren't answered and there is almost no identity. Identity just adds to the sense of pointlessness that is throughout the play.
I agree that scene is very interesting. They don't even recognize themselves, which goes along with their quest for identity. Ros and guil can't figure out where they are or why they are there and they continually question themselves throughout the entire play.
Identity is definitely a major theme in this play. I found it really weird that Ros and Guil could not recognize themselves in the play (within this play). It shows that they really don't know who they are which i think plays back into the idea of them being puppets.
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