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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What strange comparison does Guildenstern make to the coins?

2. How does Guildenstern see the way the game keeps going?

3. What does Rosencrantz say that Guildenstern must be feeling?

4. How does the dialogue change when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern speak with Claudius and Gertrude?

5. How is it obvious that the two men have been playing the gambling game for a long time?

Short Essay Questions

1. Throughout the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never leave the stage. What stops them from following the Queen's attendants to go find Hamlet?

2. Guildenstern asks Rosencrantz if he appears to be contradicting himself. What is Rosencrantz's odd reply?

3. Describe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as the play opens.

4. How does Guildenstern take advantage of the Player?

5. What type of show does the Player attempt to offer Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

6. How does the audience understand that Rosencrantz is quite naive?

7. How does Guildenstern show that he is still being analytical about their situation?

8. What is the feeling the audience gets from the strange coin spinning game Guildenstern and Rosencrantz play?

9. How does Guildenstern attempt to change the subject away from the coins?

10. Describe the somewhat bizarre entrance of Hamlet and Ophelia.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper on how effectively you think Stoppard's use of Shakespeare's play works in ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. Do you think it is necessary to see the Shakespearean play before reading or viewing Stoppard's play? How well do you think Stoppard's use of two otherwise minor characters as the leads works.

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on staged plays as opposed to films. Discuss what you think the advantages and disadvantages are of both types. What are the elements of entertainment one gets from the staged play that is missing from a film and vice versa? Give examples from your own experience.

Essay Topic 3

Do some research on the Elizabethan theater and write a paper on how Stoppard's staging of his play borrows from staging during Shakespeare's time. In your paper include how the Player and his troupe were able to stage plays as they moved from place to place.

(see the answer keys)

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