Adaptations of life and art : intertextuality in Tom Stoppard's plays

Abstract

"Art is sometimes said to draw on previous art as much as on real life." In Tom Stoppard's case, this is certainly so. The dissertation will attempt to analyse several of Tom Stoppard' s plays, and examine the degree to which the above statement is true. The plays chosen are Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead appearing with Dogg 's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth, The Real Inspector Hound and Jumpers, Travesties and finally The Real Thing, The Invention of Love and Arcadia. The dissertation begins with a short introduction on Tom Stoppard, through which the reader will be able to understand better the playwright and his works. The sections that follow will focus mainly on the above-mentioned plays, appearing together as I have indicated above. In each chapter in fact, I shall also attempt to explain the playwright's intentions, how critics have commented about his plays and some of his opinions on the criticisms his plays received. I would like to point out that while working on my dissertation I kept in mind that although a play within a play, or art imitating life catches the eye of the reader, it also encourages us, the audience, to be critical of what we see and read, and this is what I particularly strive to achieve in my study.