Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Dialectical Journal Template
In lieu of annotation, we will be completing dialectical journals for RAGAD. Please submit one of these handouts
per act we study. Cite and respond to at least 8 quotations for each act. You may use extra paper if necessary.
In the first column: Write down a direct quotation from the text.
In the second column: Cite the page.
In the third column: Write your response to the quotation. Analyze its function in the context of the play, and
analyze the language used in order to advance certain effects.
Quotation From the Text
Page
Response
Number
Act I
GUIL: It must be indicative of something,
Page 16 This quotation, spoken by Guildenstern, stuck out to me as
besides the redistribution of wealth. (He
interesting for a number of reasons. One, I like philosophy,
muses.) List of possible explanations. One:
and he seems to be tackling a big question about fate and free
I'm willing it. Inside where nothing shows,
will. He seems to be making a rational explanation for the
I'm the essence of a man spinning doubleoccurrence of so many heads, but leaves out a very plausible
headed coins, and betting against himself in
one: pre-determined destiny. For a play concerned with how
private atonement for an unremembered past.
factors outside of us influence our lives, it seems that Guil.
recognizes and accepts his lack of agency (a man spinning
double-headed coins). I wonder if the “unremembered past” is
his life in Hamlet. Will future iterations of the play
(metadrama!) yield the same results? 
GUIL (low, wry rhetoric): Give us this day
our daily mask.
LOL. This quotation was really interesting to me, especially
since it takes place after they are summoned by the King. It
combines a religious phrase (Lord’s Prayer) with the
traditional tragic symbol (the mask). This seems
metadramatic (actor talking about acting) and brings to mind
the Dunbar poem, “We Wear the Mask.” What mask does
GUIL wear??
Quotation From the Text
Page
Number
Response