Tom Stoppard based the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead on the play Hamlet; shows Hamlet from the point of view of two minor characters: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The perspective of these characters exaggerates what Hamlet goes through, makes understanding the play as a whole more complicated, and confuses readers. Despite these negative effects, readers are able to see the play Hamlet in a new light. By telling Hamlet from the perspectives of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard expands on some of Hamlet's plot points. Parts that may seem completely normal in the world of Hamlet are conveyed anomalously in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Throughout Shakespeare's work, Hamlet delivers soliloquies when he is at his worst or feeling most confused. For example, an important part of Hamlet is the soliloquy “To be or not to be” – Hamlet's monologue about mortality and whether to kill himself. Stoppard includes this scene, but places it in the background, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in the foreground, wondering whether to approach Hamlet. Seeing Hamlet speak to himself from the perspective of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern further convinces the two that Hamlet's accusation of madness is true. Seeing the same scene from two different points of view allows readers to see the distinction between normal actions in Hamlet's world and the degeneration of these actions in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. In this case, Hamlet talking to himself in Hamlet seems normal. Depicted in Stoppard's play, through the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's soliloquy becomes exaggerated and makes him seem a little crazy because he is caught talking to himself. Stoppard also... middle of paper... the air never dies; no axe, no rope and no poison ever reach the stage. They simply disappear: “Now you see me, now you…” (Stoppard 126). With this vague and formless staging of death, Tom Stoppard adds complexity and removes the inflexible formation of death. This complexity complicates the reader's idea that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are actually dead. After careful examination of these sources of evidence, if the reader had not read Hamlet before Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, he or she would be immensely confused. While Hamlet acts independently as a play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern require Hamlet to function as a play. Hamlet is the basis for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. As such, the confusion that Stoppard impresses on the reader is based on a solid understanding of Hamlet. Readers must have a frame of reference that Stoppard can manipulate.