Finally! We've moved on from Hamlet only to become immersed in the world of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. I'll be honest, this is my favorite play that we've read so far. I love all the innuendos, how naive Rosencrantz can be, and how Guildenstern is always trying to be all knowing and philosophical. The craziness and immaturity seen in this play made it extremely entertaining to me and also made it my favorite thing I've read in any Lit class I've taken.
Another great thing about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is what Stoppard has (or hasn't) done with this story. In 2nd hour we were talking about the meaning of this play and if Stoppard was mocking Shakespeare with his play. To me, both questions are tied together in that Stoppard is mocking Shakespeare to a degree. He points out the silliness of some of the elements and Hamlet and ho nonsensical it is (finally someone else who is mocking Shakespeare other than a high school student). But what I think Stoppard was really trying to point out was the difference between fiction/fantasy and real life. There is the undeniable poking fun at Shakespeare and the way everything tied up nicely in the end but Stoppard's doesn't, making it more real. There is no real plot, it's more a series of incidents.
Ms. Holmes really challenged my thinking with this play. Usually teachers have asked, "What is the author trying to say? What is the meaning of x, y, z? What does blue represent?" (thanks for that last question Mr. Crocker). This time I was challenged with "Is there even a meaning to this?" and similar questions. I've looked at this play differently because of these new questions and have come to realize that Stoppard is making fun of the people who are constantly looking for a deeper meaning in plays. With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead it's almost like Stoppard is saying, "Haha, keep looking for a deeper meaning; there isn't one. And you paid money to come see this, haha, the joke's on you!"
Earlier in the week we got a lesson on how to write intros for our essays. I'll be honest and say that this was not fun and I grumbled a lot through the process. Yes I realize it was necessary. Yes I realize it will help me in the long and short runs. Even with this knowledge I found it difficult for myself to really get into writing these intros. I've never had a teacher focus so much on the intro of the paper before, the thesis perhaps, but never the intro as a whole. This was all to evident to me when we did the mega in-class intro writing assignment, which just about killed me. Having to come up with two prompts and then respond to two others was a lot for me to handle and my brain just wouldn't work fast enough. It didn't help that everything that I've read that could possibly be applicable to the prompts suddenly was forgotten; I even read only books off the AP list last for the independent reading projects in Brit Lit last year so that I would have more to pull from. I know intros are the part I have the most problems with in essays, hopefully I won't struggle with them as much now thanks to the two days devoted to open prompt intro practice.
I can't wait to see where we go when we get back to our Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead discussion. There is so much there that we can dive into and I'm excited to see where it takes us. Hopefully the next Open Prompt part 2 blog that we have to do goes better so that Ms. Holmes does not need to devote more time to teaching us how to write like AP students should.
Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteHow awesome that you enjoyed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead so much!! I really liked this play because it was comedic, yet it tugged on my emotions at the end when the two died. :( I agree with your commentary on the mockery of Shakespeare. I certainly think there were some cases for this. It seemed that Stoppard was basically contradicting Shakespeare's entire message, or at least the message 6th hour took away. We thought that Shakespeare was commenting on the fact that we shouldn't defy providence, yet it seems Stoppard is arguing that this is only relevant in a work, and seeing as we are not in a work this theme doesn't apply to us. I agree with you on the intro excersises- I just about died. The time crunch was the biggest factor for me. Overall, good post!
Hi Caitlin,
ReplyDelete"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is my favorite play too. My class didn’t really think that Stoppard was mocking Hamlet and we really didn’t spend much time discussing that either, so I hadn’t given much through to the idea. It’s kind of funny that your class thought Stoppard was telling you that there was no greater meaning while my class was fighting over every possible meaning we could come up with. We did have a little conversion on the last day though we decided that Stoppard was telling us there is not always an answer to a question or in other words deeper meaning. I don’t think this means there is no meaning to the play and it is Theater of the Absurd. I also hated writing the introductions to the open prompts even though I knew I gravely needed the practice hopefully it will pay off. You do a good job of covering most of the material we covered in class, but what did you think about the lecture we read and I think you should try to make connections between what we’re doing in class and other things (how often I myself am not sure).
Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteThat’s an interesting topic about whether or not Stoppard is making fun of those who always search for deep meanings out of works of literature because if that really is the point he’s trying to make with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, then wouldn’t that be the deeper message to his own play. I certainly can see how one would get this message from the play, as I’ve often thought about it myself. The irony behind it all is just fascinating.
In regards to the introduction practice we did, I feel like it was not as beneficial as intended having to answer to prompt questions that were thought up by our peers in about five or so minutes since they were in a rush. Also it may be a good idea to become very familiar with a couple of novels or plays that have a wider range of answerable questions. For instance, I was browsing through some AP literature open prompt questions last week and found that Hamlet and (as much as I hate it) Brave New World were under practically every question as a suggested work.