Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: Summary/Analysis

Author: Tom Stoppard was born in Czechoslovakia, but is of British decent. He was knighted in 1997 and received one Academy Award and four Tony Awards.
Setting: Denmark and a Boat to England
Plot: We first find Ros and Guil flipping coins, but it constantly has heads as a result. Guil becomes suspicious, and beings to questions the probability of the coin constantly becoming heads. Soon, a group of actors known as the tragedians and the Player arrive. They talking about how the tragedians aren't just actors, but also prostitutes. They place bets based on coin flips and birth years doubled. They actors, losing the bet (even though they won), agree to perform a play, and as they begin, Ros and Guil "leave". This transitions into Hamlet's Castle, where Hamlet and Ophelia are seen (around the time Hamlet goes "insane"). Ros and Guil talk to the king and queen as seen in the play Hamlet. As Ros and Guil prepare to talk to Hamlet, they play the question game to warm up to ask him about his mental status. After they practice, the finally go to face Hamlet. After their conversation with Hamlet, Guil complains about how they didn't find any new information about Hamlet. The players return, angry that they didn't stay for the play. The rehearse for the play that Hamlet has requested, which looks exactly like Hamlet. Guil is disturbed when he sees their deaths acted out and becomes angry. Afterwards, Claudius sends Ros and Guil to go find where Hamlet hid Polonius' corpse, as well as tells them to go with Hamlet to England. After finding Hamlet, they come across a captain. When done speaking to them, they talk about what England may have for them. In the final act, Ros and Guil find themselves on a boat. Once on the boat, they realize they don't know what to do when they finally meet to the King of England. Again, they act out the scene in preparation. When they finally get to the reading of the letter, they realize that Hamlet will be killed once they get to England. They seem a bit hesitant to go through with the plan, but eventually do. As the stage goes black, you can see Hamlet switching the letters as stated in Hamlet. They later find the players hiding on the ship, since their play had offended the king. Soon after, pirates attack the boat, and take Hamlet with them. After, Ros and Guil rehearse again for their meeting with the King, but this time realize that the letter has changed, and now they're sentenced to death. The player, telling them that everything ends in death, angers Guil, making him attempt to kill him, but the blade was fake. The play concludes with Ros and Guil wondering what went wrong, and why were they sentenced to death. Finally, the ambassadors lines from Hamlet end the play.
Characters:
Guil: A smart man, seems to question many things and tries to come up with logical explanations for everything. He worries about what life has in store for them and seems to realize that he's only a character in a play. His Character Note in the beginning is "Well alive to the oddity of it. He is not worried about the money, but he is worried about the implications; aware but not going to panic about it"
Ros: Seemingly clueless man, though has some wisdom to him. He seems to be more emotion based than Guil. More accepting of their fate than Guil tends to be. He seems to be a caring, tender, sort of person. His Character Note is: "The run of 'heads' is impossible, yet Ros betrays no surprise at all - he feels none. However, he is nice enough to feel a little embarrassed at taking so much money off his friend"
The Player: He seems to know a lot about fate and death/life. He also seems to know a lot about Ros and Guil. Guil believes that he knows the answer to his questions, and constantly gets mad at him when he doesn't want to accept his answers. Like tragic plays with Love, Blood, and Rhetoric.
Author's Style: Since this play is based off of Hamlet it has a bit of a Shakespearean feel to it, especially since lines from play are included. Though, the language Stoppard uses in the play is mainly modern English (except for the parts from Hamlet of course), since he is trying to write for a different audience than what Shakespeare was writing for. Like Shakespeare, Stoppard leaves many parts of the play for interpretation and has lines with double meaning.
Tone: The tone seemed playful through most of the play, yet towards the end of it, it became more serious as Ros and Guil were sailing to their deaths. The topic of life and death was referenced more towards the end, which creates a darker tone.
Symbols: 
The Coins: The coins represented how time has stopped. The constant result of heads shows that time has stopped and has made the same event occur over and over again. They also represent chance, the 50-50 chance of heads or tails when flipping a coin.
The Box: Guil had referenced a box at some point in the play, and that box has represented the book. He discusses about living in the box, and that living in said box is better than no life at all.
Quotes:
"Life in a box is better than no life at all" (71)
This quote, Ros is talking about living in a box. He discusses how you can be alive or dead within the box. The box, is like the book. They're trapped within the book, the same story repeating itself over and over again. Ros and Guil are both dead and alive within it. Stoppard, here, is questioning our existence. Are we real? Or are we just characters in a play?
"...if six monkeys were..." (12)
This quote is a reference to the quote in which the idea behind it is that if an infinite number of monkeys had an infinite number of type writers, one will eventually type out all of Shakespeare's work. This is saying that there is an infinite number of possibilities. Related to fate vs. chance, which is seen throughout the play, for example, the meeting of the players. This idea is also found in Hamlet. 
Theme: The reality of the world. The play constantly questions our reality and how the world works, as well as the elements of life and death. Guil seems to understand that they're trapped within a book, and Ros seems to figure it out. They question their lives, their purpose, and who they really are. Through this, Stoppard makes us stop and question the same things, who are we and what are we doing here.