Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead, draws on two
previous theatrical works: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Samuel Beckett's Waiting
for Godot. Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead follows the "off-stage"
exploits of two minor characters from Hamlet,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
While the two main characters in Stoppard's play occasionally make brief
appearances in "Hamlet," as scripted in Shakespeare's original tragedy, the
majority of the play takes place in other parts of the castle where Hamlet is
set. While "off stage" in this way, the characters resemble the main characters
the absurdist Waiting for Godot. As in Beckett's play, Rosencrantz and
in Guildenstern pass the time by impersonating other characters, engaging in of time. These same two
word play, and remaining silent for long periods
characters were also featured in a parody of Hamlet, the short comic play by
W. S. Gilbert entitled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Gilbert's play makes
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into central characters and alters the storyline
of Hamlet.
This passage clearly states that (5 points)