Compare Shakespeare's Hamlet with Rosencmntz & Guildenstern Are Dead to see how Stoppard used the play as a source. What did he include, what did he leave out, and why? Research the conclusions of scholars on the relationship between the two texts to confirm and enlarge your findings.

Read psychologists and psychiatrists on the human attitudes toward death, perhaps beginning with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying. Compare what you learn in your research to what is implied in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Read Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot as an example of Theatre of the Absurd. Compare it to Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and decide how they are similar or different in tone and theme. Research the conclusions of scholars on the applicability of Absurdism to Stoppard's play to support your conclusions.