A large eye in a round lens on a brass stand peeks from behind a red velvet curtain.

Original artwork, not a still

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead • 1967

Tom Stoppard

...the single assumption that makes our existence viable - that somebody is watching....

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The fragment makes the belief that somebody is watching a condition of viable existence. One reading is that an audience gives actions their significance. Its sweeping claim places observation at the centre, while leaving open who watches and why their attention should matter so much.

Context reviewed

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