2004, Form B. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
In Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the deaths of Ros and Guil at the end of the play help illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Throughout the play, Guil is aggravated by the Player's mockery of death: "No one gets up after death," he says; Guil has a strange obsession with death that only makes sense after reading the entire play. The characters of the play are trapped in and endless cycle, only existing while the play occurs; while the book is open. Once the characters die and the pages close, the characters are gone until the cycle is repeated. The characters are, in a way, cursed with immortality: living and dying over and over. Stoppard has even made the main characters self aware. What Stoppard is pointing out is that he, as the author, controls his characters; as opposed to the characters coming to life themselves. If he chooses to give them consciousness, then he will - as part of his story.
In Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the deaths of Ros and Guil at the end of the play help illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Throughout the play, Guil is aggravated by the Player's mockery of death: "No one gets up after death," he says; Guil has a strange obsession with death that only makes sense after reading the entire play. The characters of the play are trapped in and endless cycle, only existing while the play occurs; while the book is open. Once the characters die and the pages close, the characters are gone until the cycle is repeated. The characters are, in a way, cursed with immortality: living and dying over and over. Stoppard has even made the main characters self aware. What Stoppard is pointing out is that he, as the author, controls his characters; as opposed to the characters coming to life themselves. If he chooses to give them consciousness, then he will - as part of his story.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good start to answering the prompt. I never thought I would want to use Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for the open prompt, but I think this is a good case to use it. This post seems more like a summary of an essay. More structure and explanation are needed to prove the thesis and fulfill the requirements of the prompt. You do a good job on analysing rather than summarizing, you just need more evidence and explanation.
I think you explained Ros and Guil being in a cycle well. The idea that they die when the book closes is a large piece of the work and works well within the prompt. Make sure to write out their full names if you use the book for the exam!
Good job!