Parody, Anti-hero, And Absurdity Of Life:An Analysis Of Black Humor In Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

Regarded as one of the most remarkable masterpiece of Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead continuously received tremendous fame from various circles. This thesis studies the employment of black humor in Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in terms of writing techniques, characterization, and themes, attempting to decode the thematic implications and philosophical insights of the play hidden beneath the unconventional form of black humor.Chapter one mainly focuses on the analysis of Stoppard’s writing techniques. As one of the most important postmodern writing skills, parody is usually used to achieve the comedic effects. Parody is a typical technique of black humor in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Parody is a kind of imitation, which imitates the style, tones, and characters of the original works, by which the readers understand the playing and somewhat negative attitude towards the existential world. The writing techniques in the play serve to highlight the darkness of humor as well as to add humor to darkness. The choice of techniques and careful arrangement of dialogues are the reflection of the attitudes of author towards absurdity and madness of life in the play.Chapter Two focuses on the black humor in the characterization of the protagonists of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The theory of Antihero will be adopted in analyzing the play. Antihero, usually absurd, ridiculous, and funny, is totally different from traditional protagonist who is instead depicted as the brave, courageous, justice and dignified. The creation of antiheroes and the foregrounding of insignificant players in the play are the typical features of black humor, by which the author aims to express the helplessness and meaninglessness of common people in the absurd world. Based on the analysis of black humor in writing techniques and characterization.Chapter Three discusses the effects of black humor in revealing the themes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Black humor literature shared the similar themes, such as absurdity, death, darkness, cruelty, corruption, among which death and absurdity are two representatively important themes. Most of black humor literature shared the two themes. With laughter and tears generated by black humor penetrating throughout the play, the playwright provides his understanding of the absurdity of world, the philosophy of death and at the same time sheds light on the relationship between art and reality. Overall, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is one of the texts that demonstrate the artistic effect of black humor. By ridiculing absurdity with absurdity, Stoppard explores the confusing world in a humorous way. His humor derived from his concern for the absurd condition of human existence and his insight of the aimlessness of human behaviors. It is concluded that through the analysis of black humor elements reflected in the aspects of writing technique, characterization and in the theme, the thesis probes into the Stoppardian humor and to a great extent, enable better understanding of appreciation of the play.