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Irony
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Act 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead tries laughing in the face of death. Its anxious, unstable mood largely reflects the difficulty of doing so: the play expects its readers to laugh along to its clumsy protagonist duo while pressing its awareness of their imminent mortality. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern weave from one side of the stage to the other and briefly lose hold of their pants as they await Hamlet. Rosencrantz forgets every other line. But as much as the work leans on the slapstick, it also reminds character and reader alike about the death that looms. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are fixed within a narrative fate that they can neither escape nor change. Both are forced to accept a death that was pre-ordained centuries before this version of them had ever graced the stage.
This tension leaves the audience on edge. The effect of this tragic comedy is a restlessness that surfaces through the traded barbs and tossed coins; there is something oppressive to their ignorance and comic fallibility. “We’ll be free,” Rosencrantz tells Guildenstern as they prepare to accompany Hamlet to England—to which his partner snaps that they will still be beneath the “same sky.” Trapped in a world they cannot understand, the pair awaits a “fixed star” until they realize that every resolution only ends in death.
No one embodies this agitated, uneasy brand of humor more than the Player, who pimps his Tragedians, hands out witticisms, and breaks into song. The voluble, madcap actor recognizes the demands of humor even while holding within him the bleak knowledge of death. He takes on a dark and threatening edge, precisely foretelling Guildenstern and Rosencrantz’s fate. The Player recognizes the “terrible odds” of life and breathlessly peddles his theatric wares:
Deaths for all ages and occasions! Deaths by suspension, convulsion, consumption, incision, execution, asphyxiation and malnutrition—! Climactic carnage, by poison and by steel—! Double deaths by duel—! Show—!
Hyper, funny, and almost hysterical, the Player’s speech here almost seems to capture the emotions of Stoppard’s entire play. The two share with each other the awareness that all life—regardless of plot or path—must tend towards the inevitability of death.
Related Themes:
