Transformations

Whatever the reason behind Stoppard’s play, an understanding of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is dependent upon a comprehensive understanding of Hamlet.
Hamlet was written in the Elizabethan period in England. The monarch was well established and was also the head of the church of England. Both the monarch and the church played an important role in the lives of the people. This is reflected in Shakespeares work as the great majority of his characters are either monarchs or high ranking members of their country’s nobility.
Audiences were interested in the lives of the people with such different to that of their own middle or low class lives, as the majority of the people were poor and ill-educated.
Written in 1967, Rosencrant...