Gravedigger's Transformation In Hamlet

Now, finish reading Act 5 and answer the following questions in a blog post. These questions will be checked for completion and understanding.

Death, both its spiritual aftermath – as exhibited within the play through the Ghost, and its physical remnants – as exhibited in the play through decaying corpses, are pondered intensely by Hamlet. This relentless contemplation of mortality and the uncertainty that death brings causes Hamlet to ultimately become a prisoner of the power and uncertainty which death holds over him. This fear impedes Hamlet’s ability to enact action, causing him to spiral down the path of procrastination and hesitation. The

The gravedigger scene in act 5 scene 1 shows the most about how Hamlet feels about death. Hamlet refers to the skulls he finds belonging to other people and their past lives.

“There’s another. Why may not that be the/ skull of a lawyer? “ (5.1-100-101). He ponders between the physical characteristics and personalities of human life. He essentially thinks who he will be after he dies. After death, one essentially becomes nothing but dust, like the biblical saying, “from ashes to ashes, and dust to dust”. “To what base uses we may return, Horatio!” (5.1.209). Hamlet is often wondering about death, speaking about it, and thinking of the gory images of death. Thinking of it in such a matter, he appears sick. He refers to dead bodies being put in to everyday items.

Depression is the first emotion that begins to sway Hamlet’s outlook on how he should respond to his father’s murder. The first appearance of Hamlet shows his inner turmoil and depressive thought that if, “Too too solid flesh would melt/ Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,” meaning that Hamlet wishes that his flesh was not so solid that death was such a difficult result to come by (1.2.129-30). The use of the impersonal terms “melt” and “thaw” both allude to the thought that Hamlet views his body more as a vessel than his actual being. Hamlet continues his soliloquy by questioning God’s Commandment against suicide; for if there were no consequences, Hamlet would willingly leave this “stale” world (1.2.131-34). By viewing the world in such a negative way, Hamlet is changing his mental state and conscience from one that acknowledges possible consequences and avoids the sinful act of suicide to one where any consequence is ignored for the world itself is “an unweeded garden” (1.2.135). This change of outlook is seen in Hamlet’s aside when he says, “A little more than kin, and less than kind,” where he openly states his distaste in his uncle and now step-father Claudius (1.2.65). Hamlet held great respect for his father’s ability to hold the throne with such confidence, and, for him to see Denmark fall into a state

Death as an image in Hamlet is used to present both the effects of sinning on Hamlet and Denmark’s corruption. In the opening act, Hamlet speaks to Claudius and Gertrude regarding his melancholy attitude due to his father’s murder (which was committed by Claudius); when the King and Queen leave, Hamlet says in an aside that he wishes that God had not made suicide a sin. During his speech, Hamlet says that he wishes his “too sullied flesh would melt” meaning he wishes he could kill himself to get rid of his depression (1.2.133-134). This imagery of melting flesh is a representation of death that shows Hamlet’s pain. In addition, death imagery is seen during Laertes’s speech to Ophelia regarding his concerns about Hamlet’s intentions.

Shakespearean tragedies all have their fair share of death, but Shakespeare’s Hamlet stands out among the others in it’s overall revolvement around the idea of death and the afterlife. The play itself begins in act 1 with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the dead king, setting Hamlet on a mission to exact revenge on the ghost’s brother and murderer, the new king Claudius. John Carroll expands on Hamlet’s mindset through the use of metaphysical sociology in, “Death and the Modern Imagination” explaining, “Hamlet was rather paralyzed by his encounter with death, in the form of his father’s ghost, to whom he swore an oath. It was when death became meaningless for Hamlet, and as a result all-encompassing, that life became meaningless” (565). Death loses meaning to Hamlet and, in turn, so does life, causing him to become resentful and detached, leading to his mental torment of the people closest to him and the eventual widespread death of almost every character in the play. Hamlet’s newfound indifference for both life and death develops into a cynical and almost inhumane attitude, infesting his lively surroundings with venomously negative ideals and eventually becoming a metaphor for death himself.

Gearing towards the end of the play Act V, scene 1 holds a significant moment of realization for Hamlet during his “alas, poor Yorick” (V.i.185) speech to show that no matter what life is lived, what status is held, whether you brought chaos or not into this world, all things come to an end. In holding the skull of Yorick, the court jester Hamlet once cared for and cherish so much, was met with a literal reminder that all men will be marked with death in the end, not with how they lived, as their entire existence turns to dust and all that remains is the reminiscence of what use to be. This sudden realization shows a notion of maturity to grow inside Hamlet, as his fear of death is met face to face, forcing him to understand that all paths will one day lead to death and the “rest is silence (V.iii.270).” Coming to terms with this, Hamlets decisions are thus set in stone, paving way for the final scenes and easing the audience into what’s meant to be a bloody interaction as the characters in this scene create a sense of comedic relief when justifying the concept of mortality. Horatio, in this scene, can be viewed as a supporting character, as he is the first person in the play to not make any form of commentary on Hamlets’ emotional state, rather he listens to Hamlet pour out his feelings.

Another symbol is the skull of King Yorick in the rank gardens. By seeing the skull Hamlet contemplates the meaning of life and death, and that even a King is reduced ‘to dust’. The skull sends Hamlet into further thought as to how he should take his

On the topic of revealing symbols and imagery, Yorick’s skull in the graveyard scene serves as a vital peek into Hamlet’s mind. This play is engulfed in the theme of death, and Yorick’s skull is not only a perfect example of death, but of the more philosophical side of Hamlet. When Hamlet picks up the skull, he stares directly into its eye sockets; the portholes into ones innermost being. In this very situation, Hamlet is desperately

Name: Gravedigger Gravedigger #2 is a small, dreary looking man with a slouched back. At the age of 35, he still manages to make jokes about the way society is place. In the play, the script places gravedigger #2 as a nameless man but his real name is Bill Faller.

Towards the end of the play, there are two scenes in the graveyard. One is when Hamlet picks up a skull, and the gravedigger tells him that the skull belonged to Yorick, the old king's jester. Hamlet tells Horatio that he knew Yorick, and then realizes what we all become after we die, dust. He then plays with the idea of life and death, and describes the finality of it. The gravedigger scene is the tragic conclusion of the play. The second scene of comedy in this scene is when the gravediggers argue whether Ophelia should be allowed to be

In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the protagonist, Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of death, and during the course of the play he contemplates death from numerous perspectives. He ponders the physical aspects of death, as seen with Yoricks's skull, his father's ghost, as well as the dead bodies in the cemetery. Hamlet also contemplates the spiritual aspects of the afterlife with his various soliloquies. Emotionally Hamlet is attached to death with the passing of his father and his lover Ophelia. Death surrounds Hamlet, and forces him to consider death from various points of view.

Hamlet’s final revelation comes when he returns to Elsinore. As he and Horatio walk through the woods, they come across a gravedigger preparing a new grave. Hamlet discovers that one of the skulls the gravedigger plucked out of the ground is that of the old court jester, Yorick. As he gazes

Along with the severe impact the death of Hamlet’s father has on him, another visible way the theme of death is revealed is through Hamlet’s developing fascination with death. When Hamlet comes across the gravediggers digging up graves in act 5 at first he is disturbed but then he slowly becomes fascinated. Hamlet wonders how someone who once meant so much in life could be so easily forgotten to rot in the ground after their death “—Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?”( A5 S1 L173-174). When they come across the skull Hamlet is shocked to learn that it is that of someone he once knew, taking it in his hands and gesturing to where the lips he had once kissed had been, hauntingly asking the lifeless bones . He is curious about how long a body takes to decay and questions the grave diggers as the answers they provide him both intrigued and disgusted. The skull acts as a physical image and reminder of the absolute finality of death in this scene,