|
Guildenstern
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. They are childhood friends of Hamlet, summoned by King Claudius to distract the prince from his apparent madness and if possible to ascertain the cause of it. The characters were revived in W. S. Gilbert's satire, ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern'', and as the alienated heroes of Tom Stoppard's absurdist play, ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'', which was adapted into a film. ''Rosencrantz'' ("rose wreath") and '' Gyldenstjerne/Gyllenstierna'' ("golden star") were names of Danish (and Norwegian, and Swedish) noble families of the 16th century; records of the Danish royal coronation of 1596 show that one tenth of the aristocrats participating bore one or the other name. James Voelkel suggests that the characters were named after Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne, cousins of Tycho Brahe who had visited England in 1592. Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' The majority of characters in ''H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead
''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the main setting is Denmark. The action of Stoppard's play takes place mainly "in the wings" of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', with brief appearances of major characters from ''Hamlet'' who enact fragments of the original's scenes. Between these episodes, the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events occurring onstage without them in ''Hamlet'', of which they have no direct knowledge. Comparisons have also been drawn with Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'', for the presence of two central characters who almost appear to be two halves of a single character. Many plot features are similar as well: the characters pass time by playing Questions, impersonating other ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (film)
''Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead'' is a 1990 tragicomedy film written and directed by Tom Stoppard based on his 1966 play of the same name. Like the play, the film depicts two minor characters from William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle at the behest of the King of Denmark. They encounter a band of players before arriving to find that they are needed to try to discern what troubles the prince Hamlet. Meanwhile, they ponder the meaning of their existence. Filmed around Zagreb, Croatia and in Brežice Castle, Slovenia, the movie won the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice International Film Festival. The film stars Gary Oldman as Rosencrantz and Tim Roth as Guildenstern, although a running theme throughout has many characters, themselves included, uncertain as to which is which. It also features Richard Dreyfuss as the leading player, Iain Glen as Hamlet, Ian Richardson as Polonius, Joanna Miles as G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". There are many works that have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare's play—from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan plays. The editors of the Arden Shakespeare question the idea of "source hunting", pointing out that it presupposes that authors always require ideas from other works for their own, and suggests that no author can have an original idea or be an originator. When ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern (Gilbert)
''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, A Tragic Episode, in Three Tabloids'' is a short comic play by W. S. Gilbert, a parody of ''Hamlet'' by William Shakespeare. The main characters in Gilbert's play are King Claudius and Queen Gertrude of Denmark, their son Prince Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Ophelia. Gilbert's play first appeared in ''Fun'' magazine in 1874 after having been rejected for production by several theatre companies.Ainger, p. 105Stedman, p. 127 The first performance of the work was not until June 1891, a benefit matinée at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. The play finally ran at the Court Theatre from 27 April 1892 to 15 July, about 77 performances, with Decima Moore as Ophelia, Brandon Thomas as Claudius and Weedon Grossmith as Hamlet. An amateur performance in 1900 featured P. G. Wodehouse as Guildenstern. The play also enjoyed a production in New York City at the Murray Hill Theatre in 1900. A charity performance in 1902 f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. Stoppard was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a child refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, having spent the previous three years (1943–1946) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas. After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright. Stoppard's most prominent plays include ''R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Of The Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style of theatre the plays represent. The plays focus largely on ideas of existentialism and express what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down. The structure of the plays is typically a round shape, with the finishing point the same as the starting point. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and to the ultimate conclusion—silence. Etymology Critic Martin Esslin coined the term in his 1960 essay "The Theatre of the Absurd", which begins by focusing on the playwrights Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, and Eugène Ionesco. Esslin says that their plays have a common denominator — the "absurd", a word that Esslin defines with a quotation from Ionesco: "absurd is t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyldenstierne (noble Family)
Gyldenstjerne, also spelled ''Gyldenstierne'' and in Swedish ''Gyllenstierna'' (English: ''Golden Star''), is a Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish noble family divided into various branches and ranks. It is one of the oldest noble families in Scandinavia. The family surname appears, in the form of ''Guildenstern'', in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'' (see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). The surname should not be confused with Gyldensteen ("Golden Stone"), the name of another short-lived Danish noble family, first recorded in 1717 and which became extinct in 1749. The family has a prominent position in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish history. It belonged to the higher nobility, and paradoxically, in Sweden it supported the absolute monarchy. The member with the highest standing was the noblewoman Kristina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna, who as Sten Sture the younger's wife was ''regent consort of Sweden''. History Denmark The oldest known man in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
What A Piece Of Work Is A Man
"What a piece of work is a man!" is a phrase within a monologue by Prince Hamlet in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. Hamlet is reflecting, at first admiringly, and then despairingly, on the human condition. The speech The monologue, spoken in the play by Prince Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II, Scene 2, follows in its entirety. Rather than appearing in blank verse, the typical mode of composition of Shakespeare's plays, the speech appears in straight prose: Differences between texts The speech was fully omitted from Nicholas Ling's 1603 First Quarto, which reads simply: This version has been argued to have been a bad quarto, a tourbook copy, or an initial draft. By the 1604 Second Quarto, the speech is essentially present but punctuated differently: Then, by the 1623 First Folio, it appeared as: J. Dover Wilson, in his notes in the ''New Shakespeare'' edition, observed that the Folio text "involves two grave difficulties", namely that according to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horatio (character)
Horatio is a character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. He was present on the field when King Hamlet (Hamlet's father) defeated Fortinbras (the king of Norway), and he has travelled to court from the University of Wittenberg (where he was familiar with Prince Hamlet) for the funeral of King Hamlet. Hamlet is glad to see him, and Horatio remains at court without official appointment, simply as "Hamlet's friend". He is on relatively familiar terms with other characters. For example, when Gertrude (the queen) is reluctant to admit the "distract" Ophelia, she changes her mind following Horatio's advice. Hamlet has departed for England by this point, and is not supposed to return. Horatio is not directly involved in any intrigue at the court, but he makes a good foil and sounding board for Hamlet. Being from Wittenberg, a university that defined the institutional switch from theology to humanism, Horatio epitomizes the early modern fusion of Stoic and Protestant rationalit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosenkrantz (noble Family)
Rosenkrantz (one line spelled ''Rosencrantz'') is the name of family which belong to Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and German nobility. The family is known since the 14th century and belongs to the old and high nobility. It has played a prominent role in Denmark and Norway, its members having been estate owners as well as high officials. The surname appears in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'' (see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). Rosenkrantz in Denmark The Rosenkrantz family were initially landowners in Denmark, with subsequent branches in both Norway and Sweden. The ''Danmarks Adels Aarbog'' ("Yearbook of the Danish Nobility") gives details of the following family lines: Line I: Hevringholm The Hevringholm line consists of the family's oldest known members in the Vivild parish in Norddjurs (c. 1300–1600). Line II: Boller with the so-called "Legitimised Line" The Boller line, which includes the barons Rosenkrantz of Rosendal, is named f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Wittenberg
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and international (English) courses leading to academic degrees such as BA, BSc, MA, MSc, doctoral degrees, and Habilitation. The university was created in 1817 through the merger of the University of Wittenberg (founded in 1502) and the University of Halle (founded in 1694). MLU is named after Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who was a professor in Wittenberg. Today, the university campus is located in Halle, while ''Leucorea Foundation'' in Wittenberg serves as MLU's convention centre. Both Halle and Wittenberg are about one hour from Berlin via the Berlin–Halle railway, which offers Intercity-Express (ICE) trains. History University of Wittenberg (''Universität Wittenbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Claudius
King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in ''Chronicon Lethrense'' and in Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum''. There has never been an actual Danish King of that name. Overview Claudius is seen at the beginning of the play to be a capable monarch as he deals diplomatically with such issues as the military threat from Norway and Hamlet's depression. It is not until the appearance of King Hamlet's Ghost in the courtyard that the audience questions his motives. During the play's progression he takes a turn for the worse by first resorting to spying, and, when that fails, murder. It is in Act III Scene 3, when Claudius forestalls Hamle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
%2C_2006..jpg "Click for more on -> Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead")
