Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part D (2016)

Abstract
Tom Stoppard who is a famous absurd dramatist has excelled many of his contemporaries in using metatheatre. His masterpiece ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ is replete with metatheatrical elements. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, is thematically based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Tactfully enough, Stoppard has made a complete transformation of a revenge tragedy called Hamlet to an absurdist play. Two insignificant characters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet have been made heroes and they have been put into a new world where they are apparently at loss; they are thrown into a predicament which is far beyond their understanding. Like a true play of the absurdist genre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead presents in philosophical ways man’s lack of absolute values, the problem of freedom and the uncertainty of knowledge and perception. Themes of confusion, absence of identity and helplessness are the chief concerns of the characters. This paper tries to focus on how the dramatist uses various metatheatrical elements to reinforce the theme.