s the tragedian who plays a girl wearing a “frock”. Stoppard seems to be mocking the character of J. Alfred Prufrock by suggesting that he is like a girl. The use of such allusions to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” provides a colorful characterization of Alfred, as well as a comparison for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s inability to do act without guidance.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is more obviously linked to the play, Hamlet. A working knowledge of Hamlet is very helpful to understanding the background to the play, the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the frequent incorporation of scenes from Hamlet. In Act I, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seem to deepen their awareness of Hamlet’s transformation through a question and answer process in which Guildenstern pretends to be Hamlet. By having Guildenstern play the role of Hamlet in order for them to understand Hamlet’s woes, Stoppard suggests that plays can foster one’s understanding. The brilliance of Stoppard’s piece is the use of the actual tragic play, Hamlet, in place of The Murder of Gonzago . By doing this, a tragedy becomes the vehicle for a sense of tragedy in another play with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern caught in the middle without hope of escape. Hamlet is used to add yet another touch of absurdity to the play by making places where Rosencrantz and Guildenstern exit from Hamlet , “entrances somewhere else…which is a kind of integrity” (28). From this, Stoppard seems to suggest that there is no end to this absurd universe and that one will be continually subjected to tragedy. The allusions to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Hamlet provide a more in depth understanding of Stoppard’s views and interpretations of the meaning of his play. The play focuses on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s inability to act independently and the fact that it is a...
