oes along with the absurdist way of thinking. Life is meaningless from an absurdist view. Vladimir and Estragon are seen constantly playing word games with each other and attempting to play games to keep themselves busy. This keeps them from dwelling on their current situation, which is their wait for Godot and their search for a meaning to their own existence. Stoppard's characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are also found playing many games. This is essentially used for the same purposes that Beckett used it for with the exception of the coin tossing. The coin tossing does show the boredom of their situation, but it also sets up a main focus in the play which is the power of chance. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also play at a game of questions for the purpose of reliving themselves of boredom. They even treat their duty to the King, similar to Hamlet, as a game. This is evident on pages 56 and 57 when this conversation between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern takes place:Guil: We played it close to the chest of course.Ros (derisively): " Question and answer. Old ways are the best ways"! He was scoring off us all down the line.Guil: He caught us on the wrong foot once or twice, perhaps, but I thought we gained some ground.Ros (simply): He murdered us.Guil: He might have had the edge.Ros (roused): Twenty-seven three, and you think he might have had the edge?! He murdered us.They use a scoring system to see if they are making any progress in their duty to the King. They figure that in their first meeting with Hamlet that they made pretty much no progress, "half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn't mean anything at all." This whole scene ties in with a previous scene where the two are playing at a game of questions. This shows that they use game playing even in their serious duties and that much of their existence is boring. Neither of these characters can really go on without the companionship o...
