The Coins
The coins that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern flip at the
beginning of the play symbolize both the randomness of the world
and the play’s exploration of oppositional forces. The pattern of
coin after coin landing heads up defies the expectation that the
laws of probability actually do work and that the world makes clear
sense. Instead, the coins suggest that the world is ruled by randomness
and the occurrence of highly improbable events. The point made by
the coins is reiterated by the way that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
get caught up in a string of improbable situations that, from their
perspective at least, occur entirely at random and make no sense
whatsoever. Randomness is often contrasted to determinism, the notion
that events happen according to some unbreakable plan. Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead combines randomness with determinism
to suggest that chance seems deterministic. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
feel that they can do nothing to counteract the chance’s determinist
force, just as they can do nothing to stop the coins from landing
heads up.
The coins also stand in for the play’s exploration of
oppositional forces. Although the coins land heads up so many times
that they may seem one-sided, coins are actually two-sided, a fact
the audience is reminded of when a coin lands tails up. This two-sidedness reflects
the many sets of opposites in the play, from the division between
Guildenstern’s philosophical pessimism and Rosencrantz’s pragmatic
optimism to the dual nature of language, which is a source of both
pleasurable wit and painful confusion. Imagining the world as a
set of opposites is somewhat at odds with the coins’ symbolism of
a world dominated by chance, since oppositions impose order on the
world. Stoppard resolves this tension by having the oppositions
in the play break down. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern reveal themselves
to be more complex and less oppositional than they initially seem,
for instance. This breakdown of oppositional forces is reflected
in the coins in that the laws of probability suggest that flipped
coins should split evenly between heads and tails, but Stoppard
shows that such a simple model does not account for the sheer randomness
of the world.
The Boat
Almost the entirety of Act III takes place onboard a boat
to England, and Stoppard uses the boat to reflect the experience
of living in a universe that is beyond our control. Guildenstern
initially responds quite positively to being on the boat, noting
that it is pleasurable to give up responsibility and allow oneself
to simply be carried along through life. This resignation to life’s
randomness is freeing, Guildenstern believes, because it means that
we no longer have to worry about whether we are making the right
decisions—we can just relax and see where life takes us. The play
suggests that this is a naïve and dangerous attitude, however, as
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s refusal to take any action for themselves
will end up getting them killed. Guildenstern realizes that getting
on the boat was a mistake, since giving up their freedom meant that
they lost all control over their lives. Simply giving in to the
randomness of the world, as well as believing that giving in leads
to freedom, are self-destructive gestures. These gestures make us
like men on a boat they cannot steer, unable to do anything about
our experiences.
