Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play by Tom Stoppard about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, who are somewhat interchangeable and provide comic relief. With the events of Hamlet as the backdrop, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bumble about, unable to make any real sense of the world around them. In the end, they are sent to England with Hamlet, who, as in the play Hamlet, tricks the King to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern rather than himself.