Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play written by Tom Stoppard. It can be said that his successful play provides the underlying meaning to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Through two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, audiences and readers can interpret the work from a completely new perspective. The complicit couple are totally unaware of Hamlet's fate and are the innocent henchmen of King Claudius. Their unique personality traits contribute to the innovative version of Shakespeare's play. Stoppard skillfully takes key components of the play, such as language and communication, and reinvents them to provide a clearer dissection in interpreting the connections between all the characters leading to the tragic ending. As stated above, Stoppard incorporates the theme of language and communication. From the beginning of the play it is evident that the two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, share a unique relationship. The game begins with the flip of coins which, in most cases, land heads. Their communication with each other during the game is “ping-pong,” which is constant going back and forth with endless questions. They make fun of each other's words without thinking about having a meaningful conversation. Stoppard's use of including the constant little interaction throughout the film can help readers and audiences understand the actions that will be conducted next. Linguistics is often seen as an encouraging way to predict one's fate, but to the criminal couple it often seems like a helpless tool, best suited to lazy individuals. The interactions provide deep insight into Hamlet's tragic fate. Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not have an intellect...... middle of paper ......they are the characters who allow all this to happen. Having characters who lack common sense and consistently don't have an interesting conversation with jokes or insights into deeper meanings creates that backdrop for the tragic. The recurring theme found in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is language and communication. The dynamic and lazy duo find themselves playing silly word games and usually end each other's sentences with nonsense. The fact that Stoppard uses it in the show shows that language is the key to connecting not only with the information you know but with the external knowledge you can obtain. Hamlet managed to outsmart so many people but in the end, due to individuals like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, fate does not turn out the right way. It's like connecting the dots. Without connecting the dots, you can't see the bigger picture. Word count: 825