Essay about Anagnorisis and Existence (Rosencrantz and...

Anagnorisis and Existence The Point of Realization in Stoppards Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead In Shakespeares Hamlet, 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 observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmixd with baser matter (Hamlet, I, v. 104-110) Upon realizing his fate Ââ€" that he must save the state of Denmark Ââ€" Hamlet must literally discard his prior knowledge and start anew. Aristotle argues that the exact moment when Hamlet realizes his fate Ââ€" by†¦show more content†¦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 Ââ€" 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. Hamlet, on the other hand, decides to pick up a sword. To be or not to be, --that is the question:-- Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them? (Hamlet, III i, 63-67) While Hamlet was also contemplating suicide, the famous soliloquy is even more pertinent for it embodies the difference between the three major young men in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras all take actions into their own hands, albeit sometimes not right away. It is this aspect of the Shakespearian heroes that Stoppard examines in his look at the other two. Herein lies the eternal question that Stoppard poses: do you stand in line and take what He hands out or fight and take arms against a sea of troubles? Both are human responses to the understanding of fate and mortality. The first is the response of a sap, a sheep, someone who isShow MoreRelatedshakespeare influences16068 Words   |  65 Pagessuffer by your own doings. And the faced that you meed hid behind, will crumble. Bernd Engler (1998) freeresearcpapersonline.com in this paper Time in the Sound and furry author argues that one of the main realities of human existence is the constant, unceasing passage of time. The Sound and the Fury explores this reality of time in many new and unexpected ways as tells the tragic tail of the Compson family. The Compsons are an old Southern aristocratic family to whom time has