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Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead Play Analysis

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There are three levels of theatrical events: drama, theater, and performance. Using the characters that appear in one of the plays, Hamlet, by Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard wrote a tragicomedy play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which is drama, theatrical event level 1. I believe that Stoppard’s script is an example of a metatheater and it relates to the readers individually and to the problems in our society. Stoppard uses Player, the leader of the Tragedians, to help the readers understand where this script came from. The readers, especially those who read the script only once, may not realize that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play within a play, a metatheater. Some may say that it is a coincidence that the writer used …show more content…

By not giving much of the descriptions, Stoppard purposely made them to be generic and common, meaning that their personalities are stereotypical. They do not have any detailed traits. For example, Rosencrantz seems to be easygoing because he is casually flipping the coin while Guildenstern is tensed because he is concerned about their situation. They have the exact opposite personalities. I believe that the purpose of this is so that the readers can easily relate to the characters depending on which generic personalities they have. By giving two different generic personality traits, the readers can relate to either characters they feel more connected to. In contrast, some people may believe that Stoppard did not describe who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are because many people already know that they are from the famous Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Still, just because they are part of a different famous play, it does not mean the readers know what kinds of men they are. By generalizing the two main characters’ personalities, Stoppard’s intention to help the readers personally relate to the events that happen to the characters in the script is very

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