Question

HELP PLEASE!!!!!

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, draws on two previous theatrical works: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead follows the "off-stage" exploits of two minor characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. While the two main characters in Stoppard's play occasionally make brief appearances in "Hamlet," as scripted in Shakespeare's original tragedy, the majority of the play takes place in other parts of the castle where Hamlet is set. While "off stage" in this way, the characters resemble the main characters in the absurdist Waiting for Godot. As in Beckett's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pass the time by impersonating other characters, engaging in word play, and remaining silent for long periods of time. These same two characters were also featured in a parody of Hamlet, the short comic play by W. S. Gilbert entitled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Gilbert's play makes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into central characters and alters the storyline of Hamlet.

In this excerpt, why does the author compare Stoppard's play to Waiting for Godot? (5 points)


To call attention to the absurdity of such odd plays

To provide additional information about the Stoppard play

To provide details about the qualities of the Stoppard characters

To suggest minor characters are often quite interesting

Answer 1

The correct answer is option four.

Both plays, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" and "Waiting for Godot," portray the same minor characters from "Hamlet." In this passage, the author intends to compare both plays and describe how the full potential of the characters by Shakespeare can develop in Stoppard and Beckett's plays.