Through this play we see two completely different characters, which seem to compliment one another much like yin and yang. The title, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” seems to play a double meaning to fit the theme of predestination and free will. The word “Dead”, where one whom has read the play “Hamlet” the main inquiry is does “Dead” mean the final fate that we all share, or does it mean they have been predestined to live a “dead” life where they have nothing to do other than question their fate. There are three motifs that Tom Stoppard ties in to the play, like the wheel, which signifies a never-ending cycle that all living things follow. The next motif is time and direction, which signifies the false sense of never ending possibilities for the future of the human race. The last motif is home, and this is …show more content…
The importance of the circle is the question of predestination, specifically when Guildenstern seas, “Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are...condemned.” This quote brings light to the idea that these two know they are bound to repeat a single cycle over and over till they have finished their royal duties, but do not know if they will finally be free, or if they will be condemned to death in this cycle. The coin toss incident that we see in the beginning of the play ties in to the wheel because as we know the law of probability says that as many times you hit heads you should also hit tails, but they don’t seem to be bound by this law, rather they seem to have only one choice and in this case it is heads. Guil goes on to mention that he thinks supernatural forces are at play and he questions what this means during his quote “Three, we are now within un-, sub- or supernatural forces…” The two seem to be stuck without any knowledge of what is happening and can only question