Preying upon the Theatrical Parasite

Although Tom Stoppard established his reputation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead when it was first produced in 1966, the playwright often appears reluctant to talk about his second play. Stoppard, who most critics report to be a very private person, repeatedly offers his interviewers only cryptic responses to their questions about the meaning of the piece. When asked whether or not Rosencrantz and Guildenstern embodies any particular philosophy, Stoppard replied that the play does not …

…and Ros exist in a world of, as Lee says, "total unreliability" but that he is in a world governed paradoxically by the theory of probability, a world where initial events seem "random" but where the end is irrevocably fixed or determined (ie. death for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). By employing the theory of probability, Stoppard actually enhances Ros and Guil's sense of frustration with their circumstances--a sense of frustration that could be interpreted as "absurd."