Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

218 Pages·2013·7.78 MB·English

Anja Easterl ing
Shakespearean Parallels and
Affinities wit h the Theatre of
the Absurd in Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Umeå 1982

Anja Easterling
Shakespearean Parallels and
Affinities with the Theatre of
the Absurd in Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Doctoral Dissertation
by due permission of the Faculty of Arts
of the University of Umeå
to be publicly discussed in the lecture hall F
on January 17, 1983 at 10 a.m.
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Umeå 1982
ABSTRACT
Author: Anja Easterling
Title: Shakespearean Parallels and Affinities with the
Theatre of the Absurd in Tom Stoppard's Rosen-
crantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Address: Department of English Umeå University, S-901 87
/
Umeå, Sweden
The study elucidates the relation of Tom Stoppard's play
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to Hamlet on the one
hand and to the Theatre of the Absurd on the other. The
two plays chosen to represent the Theatre of the Absurd
are Samuel Beckett1 s Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter* s
The Caretaker. Since Stoppard is admired as a master crafts­
man of language, the emphasis is on his use of language.
The extent to which the use of the cliché characterizes the
three absurd plays is examined. It is found that the lan­
guage area covered by the term cliche is not clearly de­
fined and that the term is not uniformly applied. The in­
quiry centres on finding features, such as repetition,
music-hall passages and "ready-made" language, that could
explain why the dialogue in the three plays might appear
cliche-ridden and on comparing the three plays in respect
of these features.
The study further draws parallels between Stoppard's play
and Waiting for Godot in the use of various techniques,
such as misunderstandings, anticlimax and afterthought. It
is found that there is often a conscious adoption by
Stoppard of Beckett's techniques.
To clarify the relation of Stoppard's play to Hamlet various
aspects of the two plays are studied. These aspects include
changes introduced into stereotyped expressions, punning,
the use of parody and the handling of two specific motives,
madness and death. Parallels are found in spite of the fact
that several centuries separate the two plays, not least
in respect to style, technique and language.
Keywords: Stoppard, Tom, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead, Hamlet, Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot,
Pinter, Harold, The Caretaker, The Theatre of
the Absurd, absurd drama, cliche.
ISBN 91-7174-116-X. Umeå, 1982.
Distributed by Umeå Universitetsbibliotek, Box 718, S-901 10
Umeå, Sweden.
Anja Easterling
Shakespearean Parallels and
Affinities with the Theatre of
the Absurd in Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Umeå 1982
ABSTRACT
Author: Anja Easterling
Title: Shakespearean Parallels and Affinities with the
Theatre of the Absurd in Tom Stoppard's Rosen-
crantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Address: Department of English, Umeå University, S-901 87
Umeå, Sweden
The study elucidates the relation of Tom Stoppard's play
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to Hamlet on the one
hand and to the Theatre of the Absurd on the other. The
two plays chosen to represent the Theatre of the Absurd
are Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter's
The Caretaker. Since Stoppard is admired as a master crafts­
man of language, the emphasis is on his use of language.
The extent to which the use of the cliché characterizes the
three absurd plays is examined. It is found that the lan­
guage area covered by the term cliché is not clearly de­
fined and that the term is not uniformly applied. The in­
quiry centres on finding features, such as repetition,
music-hall passages and "ready-made" language, that could
explain why the dialogue in the three plays might appear
cliché-ridden and on comparing the three plays in respect
of these features.
The study further draws parallels between Stoppard's play
and Waiting for Godot in the use of various techniques,
such as misunderstandings, anticlimax and afterthought. It
is found that there is often a conscious adoption by
Stoppard of Beckett's techniques.
To clarify the relation of Stoppard's play to Hamlet various
aspects of the two plays are studied. These aspects include
changes introduced into stereotyped expressions, punning,
the use of parody and the handling of two specific motives,
madness and death. Parallels are found in spite of the fact
that several centuries separate the two plays, not least
in respect to style, technique and language.
Keywords: Stoppard, Tom, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead, Hamlet, Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot,
Pinter, Harold, The Caretaker, The Theatre of
the Absurd, absurd drama, cliché.
ISBN 91-7174-116-X. Umeå, 1982.
Distributed by Umeå Universitetsbibliotek, Box 718, S-901 10
Umeå, Sweden.
To Edward, William
and Elizabeth Jane

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. A Note on Absurdism and The Theatre of the
Absurd 1
a. Absurdism ••••••••••• 1
b. The Theatre of the Absurd 4
2. Tom Stoppard and Rosencrantz and Guilden-
stern Are Dead » 10
a. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead . 11
3. The Structure of the Present Study and the
Method Employed ........ 14
CHAPTER I. STEREOTYPY IN THE CARETAKER, WAIT­
ING FOR GODOT AND ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDEN-
STERN ARE DEAD
1. The Cliche and Stereotypy 21
2. The Caretaker ^ 29
a. Repetition in The Caretaker *
0
b. Ready-Made Elements and
Idiosyncratic Speech 34
c. A Working-Class Restricted Code ••• 35
d. Collocational Conventionality ..... 36
e. Phrasal Verbs 38
f. Pinter's Handling of Various
Codes 39
g. The Literary Uses of Stereo­
typy in The Caretaker ^ 40
3. Waiting for Godot 44
a. Waiting for Godot versus The
Caretaker • • 45
b. Music-Hail Passages 48
c. Lack of Associative Links 49
d. Sentences of "Wonderful Shape" ... 51
#\ \\
e. Multiplicity of Levels ......... 55
4. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead ^ ^ ^ 57
a. R&G versus The Caretaker and
WFG 58
b. Music-Hall Passages 60
c. Contrived Verbal Links 63
d. Aphoristic Speech 64
e. Repetition and Idiosyncratic
Speech 66
CHAPTER II. DEVIATIONS FROM STEREOTYPED
EXPRESSIONS IN ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN
ARE DEAD 74
1. "Unidiomatic" Idioms 75
2. Collocational Unconventionality ••• 77
3. Disregarded Parallelism 78
4. Changes in Proverbs 78
5. Conflated Idioms 80
6. Jumbled Cliches 81
CHAPTER III. PROVERBS IN HAMLET 85
1. Proverbs with No Earlier Source
than Shakespeare 87
2. Changes in Proverbs 89
3. Proverb-Puns 91
4. Fragments of Proverbs 93
5. Comic Proverbs 94
6. Strings of Proverbs 94
CHAPTER IV. PUNNING IN HAMLET AND ROSEN-
CRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD 99
1. Hamlet 100
a. Thematic Punning ••••••••• 100
b. Clusters of Puns 102
c. Characters' Mental Processes
and Punning 103
2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead 105
a. Phrasal Puns 1°5
b. Bawdy Punning 108
c. Punning and Misunderstandings •• HO
d. Punning in Clusters
CHAPTER V. SOME PARALLELS BETWEEN ROSENCRANTZ
AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD AND WAITING FOR
GODOT
1. Flawed Communication H6
a. Misunderstandings 116
b. Two Monologues instead of
Dialogue 119
2. Playful Treatment of Sentence
Elements and Sentence Sequence ... 120