TOM STOPPARD’S ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD:A SARTREAN READING

• Main Authors: Lin Pei-jung, 林佩蓉
• Other Authors: Liao, Pen-shui
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/08424999058792242004

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 96 === Existentialism is the theory which attempts to approach the meaning of human existence, while Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead addresses these themes of existence of self, existence for others, and death in human life, which generally fits the concepts of existentialism. Through the two minor characters of Hamlet, Stoppard creates a self-contained world for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, where they explores the questions of existential meanings which modern human beings may face and think. Among existentialists, the twentieth century French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, describes that the possibility of an existential phenomenology requires that conscious being take the form of existence. That is to say, human existence is defined by all the actions they choose. However, when human beings can not arrive at what they have expected, they tend to suffer and ask why. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard represents the attitude which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern take when they suffer in their loss of existential meanings. Therefore, this thesis will employ Sartrean existentialist theories as the basis of discussions of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One, Introduction, introduces the themes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Sartrean existentialism. Chapter Two, “Existence of Self,” deals with the notions of self existence, including being-in-itself and being-for-itself, and explicates how these two terms are implied in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s self thinking plight. Chapter Three, “Existence for Others,” discusses how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s situation is plunged in others’ existence, and the result they have to face is due to their choices and free wills in the beginning. Chapter Four, “Death,” highlights the theme of death in the play. Since death is the key word of the title, “the dead” must contain more meanings than its literal meaning. In other words, how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern choose to face their death illustrates how they treat their life. Chapter Five, Conclusion, conveys that the meaning of human existence is based on the attitudes of how human beings tackle all the events in life, which also corresponds to the spirit of Sartrean existentialism.