---
product_id: 1695222
title: "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead"
price: "$32.64"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/1695222-rosencrantz-and-guildenstern-are-dead
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# Absurdist Humor Classic Play Timeless Themes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

**Price:** $32.64
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 🎭 Embrace the Absurd: Where Every Moment Counts!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
- **How much does it cost?** $32.64 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/1695222-rosencrantz-and-guildenstern-are-dead)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
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## Key Features

- • **Perfect for Book Clubs:** Spark lively discussions with friends.
- • **Thought-Provoking Themes:** Challenge your perception of fate and free will.
- • **A Masterpiece of Absurdity:** Dive into the existential chaos!
- • **Witty Dialogue That Resonates:** Engage with sharp, clever banter.
- • **A Unique Perspective on Shakespeare:** Experience Hamlet like never before.

## Overview

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a groundbreaking play by Tom Stoppard that explores the lives of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, blending humor and philosophy in a unique narrative that questions existence and fate.

## Description

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead [Tom Stoppard] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Review: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Very Much Alive, Actually - From the uncomparable genius of Tom Stoppard comes a quotable masterpiece about two friends lost in someone else's story. While the rest of Shakespeare's characters remain true to their original script, Ros and Guil step out of the box to explore a variety of topics ranging from the metaphysical to the downright comical. As the title suggests, the story is, ultimately, a tradegy -- but as the reader gets to know the two stars, it becomes a tragedy on multiple levels. One feels that their deaths are preordained, and even the moments of sidesplitting hilarity are laced with the bittersweet knowledge that it WILL end. The story is made still more touching as the characters' early realization of their fate battles with their unquenchable hope. Stoppard has captured in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a sense of innocence that endures despite the chaos around them in a world where it seems even the laws of physics have suddenly ceased to apply. A perfect mixture of comedy and tragedy with a philosophical overtone attainable only by Stoppard, this is a play you will want to read, re-read, and act out with your friends in daily conversations.
Review: Guildenstern and Rosencrantz Are Alive - This play never gets old. Does any play? They're like flies encased in amber, filled with the blood of dinosaurs. Every performance stirs ancient powers. You never know what they'll bring back to life, or back to death. Here the extras are the heroes, just for one day. Hamlet gets a few walk-ons, but to be or not to be is never a question. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the perhaps unwilling, perhaps complicit participants in their inevitable, inexplicable existence, and they take center stage in this very meta play about plays about life, death, you, me, choice, chance, and fate. Do they seize their chance or waste it? Could it have been any different? Are they, in the end, extra mortal or alive forever? Is the title, in the end, the first and last joke? I can't give enough praise to the hilarity, the profundity, the stupidity, the cupidity, the reality of this marvelous play-thing. I don't think you really need to have Hamlet before it. And you won't have quite the same Hamlet after it.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #814,181 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #410 in Screenwriting (Books) #598 in Censorship & Politics #706 in Comedic Dramas & Plays (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (216) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 0802132758 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0802132758 |
| Item Weight  | 4.8 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 128 pages |
| Publication date  | January 21, 1994 |
| Publisher  | Grove Press |

## Images

![Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31TyYorSiVL.jpg)
![Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/415bmUraf6L.jpg)
![Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51enPuP6CXL.jpg)
![Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81WZWK2If3L.jpg)
![Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Image 5](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91-1yzp3OUL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Very Much Alive, Actually
*by V***. on September 14, 2002*

From the uncomparable genius of Tom Stoppard comes a quotable masterpiece about two friends lost in someone else's story. While the rest of Shakespeare's characters remain true to their original script, Ros and Guil step out of the box to explore a variety of topics ranging from the metaphysical to the downright comical. As the title suggests, the story is, ultimately, a tradegy -- but as the reader gets to know the two stars, it becomes a tragedy on multiple levels. One feels that their deaths are preordained, and even the moments of sidesplitting hilarity are laced with the bittersweet knowledge that it WILL end. The story is made still more touching as the characters' early realization of their fate battles with their unquenchable hope. Stoppard has captured in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a sense of innocence that endures despite the chaos around them in a world where it seems even the laws of physics have suddenly ceased to apply. A perfect mixture of comedy and tragedy with a philosophical overtone attainable only by Stoppard, this is a play you will want to read, re-read, and act out with your friends in daily conversations.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Guildenstern and Rosencrantz Are Alive
*by D***S on August 27, 2014*

This play never gets old. Does any play? They're like flies encased in amber, filled with the blood of dinosaurs. Every performance stirs ancient powers. You never know what they'll bring back to life, or back to death. Here the extras are the heroes, just for one day. Hamlet gets a few walk-ons, but to be or not to be is never a question. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the perhaps unwilling, perhaps complicit participants in their inevitable, inexplicable existence, and they take center stage in this very meta play about plays about life, death, you, me, choice, chance, and fate. Do they seize their chance or waste it? Could it have been any different? Are they, in the end, extra mortal or alive forever? Is the title, in the end, the first and last joke? I can't give enough praise to the hilarity, the profundity, the stupidity, the cupidity, the reality of this marvelous play-thing. I don't think you really need to have Hamlet before it. And you won't have quite the same Hamlet after it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great play on free will.
*by A***E on January 12, 2013*

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern show us the problem with free will is that humans are potentially completely reactionary, despite our attempts not to be. The theater of the absurd dramatizes the problem of free-will as a ridiculous concept. In Stoppard’s play the best parts were the futility of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on the boat wondering what happens once they get to England. In our everyday lives we act the same way toward upcoming events, and while many of us just reassure ourselves with assumptions on what we will do, in reality we have no idea. That is because in a given situation we are forced to interact with what is thrown at us. Even the ultimate sign of free-will, reading self-help books, is spurred by personal failures caused by the situations thrown at us. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get “self-help” from the player, but as Stoppard points out, all of us are on the same boat. The difference is that some of us are willing to make more assumptions and cling to values than others. Meanwhile, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern refuse to do such a thing.

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*Product available on Desertcart United States of America*
*Store origin: US*
*Last updated: 2026-02-21*