Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play written by Tom Stoppard. His hit play can be said to give an underlying meaning to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Thanks to two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the audience and readers can interpret the play from a whole new perspective. The complicit couple are completely unaware of Hamlet's fate and are the innocent sidekicks of King Claudius. Their unique personality traits contribute to the innovative version of Shakespeare's play. Stoppard skillfully takes key elements of the play such as language and communication and reinvents them to provide a clearer dissection in interpreting the connections between all the characters that culminate in the tragic ending. As noted above, Stoppard incorporates the theme of language and communication. From the beginning of the play, it is visible that the two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, share a unique relationship. The game begins by tossing coins which, most of the time, always land on heads. Their communication with each other during the game is “ping-pong,” constant 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 bad interaction throughout can help readers and audiences understand the actions that will be taken later. Linguistics is often seen as an encouraging way to predict one's own destiny, but for the partner-in-crime duo, it often appears as a powerless tool, better suited to lazy individuals. The interactions provide deep insight into Hamlet's tragic fate. Due to the fact that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have no intelligence...... middle of paper ...... are the characters that allow all of this to happen. Having characters with no common sense and constantly having no interesting conversations with jokes or glimpses of deeper meanings, creates this tragic backdrop. The recurring theme found in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is language and communication. The dynamic, lazy duo find themselves playing silly puns and usually ending each other's sentences with nonsense. The fact that Stoppard uses this in the play shows that language is essential for connecting not only to the information you know, but also to the external knowledge you can obtain. Hamlet has managed to outsmart so many people, but ultimately, because of individuals like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, fate doesn't look the right way. It's like connecting the dots. Without connecting the dots, you can't see the big picture.: 825