Modern Irony Essay

Since the beginning of term, slice has plan of attacked to unravel the seemingly infinite mysteries of emotional state. The English playwright tomcat Stoppard has written plays that address the reality of fate (or a predestined import for ever soy hu earth universe) and controlling ones avow destiny. His plays as well as deal with the many other un realties that arise during a normal soulfulnesss sustenance such as sex, how we know things, etc. (Tom Stoppard) Stoppards utilization of satire and drawn parallels mirror the image of spirits faults and intricacies. His plays serve to show people the humor and irony that life presents.During the time that Stoppard wrote his first play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstein, society was experiencing a social upheaval. The late sixties was a time of experimentation and existentialism. People were asking head teachers about their genuinely existence in a way never before seen. In this climate, Stoppard power saw the opportunity to be gin writing plays that dealt with the issues of the time (Over attitude of Tom Stoppard). He took a whimsical spin though, on the method in which he delivered it. He enrolled on the continuing journey of a great literary tradition, exactly diverged from its path by ridiculing it.His desire to write plays was not a automatic venture during this era, many people wanted to express their thoughts and incurings, and plays were a vulgar medium. Stoppard observed this and pondered if success and familiarity could be his as well. The general pass being asked around this time was Why argon we here? slice has continuously sought an answer to this question, but now more than ever was it expressed in literature and plays. Stoppards craft shows a proclivity for humor, which offers a more light-hearted mentationpoint of this previously serious and mundane battlefield. Stoppard asks the question of not only Why argon we here? but in any case How ar we here? as well. He explores the intricacies of life in an attempt to derive a meaning. His comical touch alleviates the heavy association of philosophy though. Whether or not his question is answered is secondary to the method in which we view it. In Stoppards eyes, it is more important to live rather than to grind why we live. This cash advance brought fanfare to Stoppard, as society saw his look as fresh and a tangible device to which they could relate. Literary level has had a heavy tint on Stoppards method and conceptual presentation.He admits to being swooned by such masterpieces as Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock by T. S. Elliot. The ideas that he extracted from these artists and their work helped him divulge his let style to which he could further literature. A parallel may be drawn between Waiting for Godot and Stoppards Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Dead. Both works feature deuce men, and their journey in existentialism. Becketts version has them hold for a surreal calibre (Godot) that, in the end, never appears.The characters are portrayed as confused, and the play takes on an air of severe depression. The play is very much an appeal to the listening, as they too are overcome by this depression. The characters slowly occur away, emotionless and unexcitable. Stoppards version though has his characters embark on a journey a fruitless journey, but a goal to meet none the less. Beckett disarms his audience, while Stoppard embraces them into his play making the audience feel at home and comfortable. Stoppard diffuses the rather heavy atmosphere belied by Beckett with satire and a whimsical wit.For example, In Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Dead, Stoppard portrays the idea of terminal as a game. He does this in an attempt to show the audience that it is not to be feared. He achieves this by his satirical depiction of the knowledgeable play within Hamlet by Shakespeare. The characters in the play perish, and accordingly the actual characters die in the exact same manner. The audience fireister identify with death, as all humans are concerned with their own demise. They take away though, a much less serious approach in viewing it. The other author, Elliot, often depicted his characters as stumbling and indecisive. wiz of his most famous works, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, deals with a man who is trance with the variables and uncertainties of approaching a woman that he admires. In the poem, Prufrock exculpates that only he cares about his decision, and whether he chooses to pursue her or not, allow not matter. He sees himself as part of his own world in which he is the doctor occupant. He, sadly, is only coherent enough in his world though to realize how much he is potentially missing by not being completely immersed in it. He cannot solve this problem though, and continues wandering and ponder till the end of time.Stoppard took away from Elliot a similar stance to character developm ent. He portrays his characters as aware, but not completely in argumentation with their surroundings. The nucleus is one of dismay, but comical as well. Stoppards depiction is more humorous in nature, displaying them as bungling and unresponsive. This is exemplified in his play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Dead. His characters attempt to divulge the plan and their purpose as designated by the force (Claudius), but are unavailing to fully grasp its meaning. These literary greats do not contribute the fabulous humor that Stoppard has developed though.His humorous divisors can best be equated to his passion for the Theatre of the Absurd. This type of theater came into popularity during the fifties and 1960s and was applied to plays that portrayed the human situation without purpose and with comical bandage elements. This form was a reemergence of an attempt towards awareness of mans purpose in life the sense of wonder that man has always had concerning how things work a nd why. In some respect, it was anti-theater, as it went against the basic premise of well-ordered theater. It was illogical and usually had very little or no plot (Culik).Stoppards fascination with this art form had a profound impact on his own personal style. Sigmund Freud, a proponent of the Absurd, said, In nerve-wracking to burst the bounds of logic and language, the absurd theater is trying to rupture the enclosing walls of the human condition itself. (Culik) This confirms the spatial concepts that the theater was attempting to portray, and Stoppards comedic element is based upon this illogical and removed nature. The play Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Dead is a satirical look upon the much more staunch play Hamlet.It delves into the lives of two supporting characters named Rosencrantz and Guildenstein. The characters unimportance is exemplified in the play by their lack of judgment and baffling thought patterns. This play shows Stoppards portrayal of artificiality of theater. The performance is not about the actual play, but the context of the play the idea of be the performance. The characters appeal directly to the audience, instead of becoming immersed in its story and plot. The effect is comical, as the play begins with them merely spinning hits and making bizarre implications towards the audience.Rosencrantz has spun the coin and received heads nearly 85 times. His humorous portrayal of the rightfulness of averages is his acknowledgment for his luck. This is the plays first look into why things happen. The characters are ineffectual to come to a proper conclusion though and the path that Rosencrantz begins upon (the law of averages) cannot be farther removed from the truth. The play continues with these hilarious situations, finally having the brace receive their mission from Claudius the King. The pair ponders why they have received the mission, and why they must complete it. Stoppard constantly asserts that a play is being read. i nstead of captureing the reader to delve into a story. He makes the reader think of Hamlet, and its tragical implications and applies a humorous tone to it. In the end of the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are supposedly murdered (the English king is instructed to execute them, but their actual deaths are not witnessed), but instead of a grand exit, they merely fade away. Stoppard shows through with(predicate) this that the characters had served only a menial and insignificant purpose. The reader is unable to sympathize with the characters demise, as the play is portrayed with a comical tone.This ill turn to death with satire is two eye widening and thought provoking. A person is assaulted with the moral implications of death, instead of offering a deaf understanding to the characters grief. Stoppards ability to allow the playgoers to analyze what they feel is his greatest achievement in the work not the story itself. Stoppards play Arcadia is another intelligent play that provokes the reader to appraise mans life long debacles. In the play, the characters attempt to grasp the mysteries of sex, and a path towards knowledge that leads to an understanding of the coming(prenominal).The latter is portrayed as an comparison developed by Thomasina, in an attempt to control her own destiny. Her professor, Septimus, in any case contributes to the equating by way of a lesson to his student, Thomasina. He explains to her that the loss of knowledge isnt the end of the world as it is rediscovered eventually in the future. This subject is an explanation of humanitys technological progression and our knowledge. The play attempts to allow the reader to grasp the many unknown or mis soundless concepts in life. Mysteries such as sex can only be acquired through practice and progression of time.Stoppard appeals to the general public that things cannot be instantly understood they must be studied and experimented with to fully grasp the full meaning. These mysteries will eventually be solved, but it shall take time and patience zip is instantaneous in life. Stoppards inclusion of Thomasinas equation is both humorous and practical in its implication. Thomasinas goal was to create an equation that could more or less tell the future. It is humorous to surmise that a simple(a) equation can predict the future with numbers. The limitless variables and uncertainties in life will forever impede such an advancement. Stoppard attempts to explain that life itself is intangible it can neither be predicted nor reduced to a simple equation. Stoppards plays contain many useful outlooks on how a person should view their life on earth. People are always concerned with the future and their own death (and when it will occur). Stoppard believes that man shouldnt view life with such a critical eye and instead should accept certain facts to be true. Man is powerless concerning the ability to control life. There are many uncertainties in life that are both humorous and unendingly escapable to the human mind.His plays show inept characters driven into the ground by their employment of the study of life. Stoppard suggests through his characters comical adventures that life is for living, and the consequence of a life spent longing and pondering equates to a life disenfranchised of glop and meaning. The meaning which man longs for cannot be quantified it must be experienced to dishonour the surface of significance.Works CitedStoppard, Tom. Arcadia. Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Tom Stoppard. DISCovering Biography. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 17 January 2005http//galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC