The Significance of the Coin Flips in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

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The Significance of the Coin Flips in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

At the beginning of the play "Rosencrantz and Guildensten," one of the two characters found a gold coin during their journey through the desert. He immediately began to flip the coin to see what side it would land on. By the seventh flip, two tails turned up. Every flip after was heads. The characters fliped the coin over 157 times, and they each after the seventh flip turned up heads. The significance

of the coin flips in this play was not ever specified within the storyline. However, with a closer look, one can recognize the significanceit had in the plot. The coin flips warned, foreshadowed and carried of a message about probability.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern finding this coin seemed coincidental. However, the fact that it turned up heads practically every timethey flipped it was not. The author could have used this strange occourance to signal to the audience and warn the two characters.When strange and unusual things happen, one may tend to associated it with either bad luck, a warning f...

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