Like many plays emerging from the Theater of the Absurd movement, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead pits its protagonists against life’s uncertainty, randomness, and meaninglessness, while demonstrating the futility of trying to understand existence. With no memory of Hamlet—presumably one of their closest friends—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves stuck in Elsinore performing tasks with “nothing to go on” (96) aside from what they are told by people they do not remember. They spend much of their time confused about what is happening around them, who they are, and what they should do. They exist in an absurd universe where “ninety-two coins spun consecutively” can “come down as heads ninety-two consecutive times” (14) without any explanation or meaning and “most things end in death” (114). The two of them, especially Guildenstern, would like to find “a kind of harmony and a kind of confidence” (13), but neither of those things can exist in their world.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not recognize the absurdity of existence until after the messenger summons them to Elsinore before the start of the play. This arbitrary event opens their eyes to phenomena they cannot decipher.