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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Finding Directions:
Directions preoccupy Guildenstern and Rosencrantz at various points in the play. The protagonists’ search for directions—or more precisely, their failure to find any—supplements their own shiftlessness in a literal sense. At one point, Guildenstern bemoans that “we’re just not getting anywhere.” The two characters not only struggle to navigate the terrain of Stoppard’s strange play, but cannot even determine where the sun rises. When Hamlet explains that his madness changes with the direction of the wind, the pair bicker amongst themselves as they try to get their positions.
Guil: It doesn’t look southerly. What made you think so?
Ros: I didn’t say I think so. It could be northerly for all I know.
Guil: I wouldn’t have thought so.
Ros: Well, if you’re going to be dogmatic.
Guil: Wait a minute—we came from roughly south according to a rough map.
Ros: I see. Well, which way did we come in? (Guil looks round vaguely.) Roughly.
Guil: (clears his throat) In the morning the sun would be easterly. I think we can assume that.
Ros: That it’s morning?
Guil: If it is, and the sun is over there (his right as he faces the audience) for instance, that (front) would be northerly. On the other hand, if it is not morning and the sun is over there (his left)…that…(lamely) would still be northerly. (Picking up.)
The pair’s struggle to get their bearings tracks neatly with their failure to control their own course in the play at large. Directions (or the lack thereof) reinforce the work’s surrealist emphasis, in which people and places simply pass by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The two bump into the wandering Tragedians, meet King Claudius, and receive his directions with little advance notice. They get transported to Elsinore Castle at the flip of a coin. Like life, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s journey lacks motive, structure, and any apparent cause. Their tragedy simply happens, resisting any attempt at explanation. Through emphasis on navigation, Stoppard frames their story as both arbitrary and positionless. By the end of the play, Rosencrantz can no longer tell whether the sun is going down or the earth is coming up. The pair’s physical confusion merely hints at their deeper struggles to make any sense of the world around them.
Related Themes:
