Transformations – “How has the composer of the contemporary text used the earlier text to say something new?”

In effect, it is the changing ideas and values presented in Tom Stoppard’s transformation of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ into ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’, which allows the composer to convey the idea of man’s lack of purpose and identity in a modern society that holds no absolutes. The contrast between the highly structured context of the Elizabethan era and the undefined secularity of the mid 20th Century is the foundation on which Stoppard expresses his nihilistic attitude towards society’s gradual degradation.

Written in the 1600’s, Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ portrays the Elizabethan values of 17th Century England. Based around the ordained Chain of Being, and exemplifying the superlative hero, we see the main protagonist, prince Hamlet, being portrayed as a man who possesses the strength and courage of a “most royal…......

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Title: Transformations
Approximate Word Count: 2124
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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