Hamlet: Act V Scene I
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Hamlet: Act v Scene i
The scene opens with the gravediggers casually talking back and forth as they prepare a grave for Ophelia. Their clever and humorous conversation serves as a bridge between the last scene, when Ophelias tragic death was announced, and the end of scene i when friction sparks between Laertes and Hamlet, who also makes known his true feelings about Ophelia. The gravediggers also serve as a way for Shakespeare to highlight the theme of morality and Christianity that has been running through the entire play. Ophelias death is questionable, yet likely to have been suicide, which would defy moral legitimacy and require her to be buried elsewhere. Yet, due to her status and connections within society, her body will be lovingly buried wherever the King wishes it to be. This fact, I believe, portrays the continuing importance of political and social status for those living, and those who have passed away and are now revered by the living. People of “importance” are treated better and are rarely neglected of their wants; this has always been the case, and will probably never change. Yet, I thought it was very humorous that the gravedigger compares himself to Adam of the scriptures and believes that it is he who builds strongest because “the houses he makes lasts till doomsday (60)” which illustrates the theme that death is inevitable, permanent, and ultimately the great equalizer. Regardless of what one did in his or her life, in death, everyone is equal; their memory is only crucial and significant to those who are still living.
Hamlet soon enters the scene with Horatio and, upon noticing the skulls dug up by the gravediggers, contemplates the legitimacy of the people whose remains are now simply tossed aside. He realizes that no matter how great a person was in their life, or what they had accomplish, in death they all return to the earth and become dust. He emphasizes, even, that the great Julius Caesar “dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind awayshould patch a wall to expel the winters flaw (220-223)” which means that the remains of this honored man could, in fact, be now used as building material. This realization further portrays Hamlets obsession with death and questioning attitude toward the point of actually living. Men spend their entire lives striving, yearning to be great and successful, yet in the end according to Hamlet, it doesnt really matter; it all leads us back to dust in the earth.
When Laertes, Gertrude and Claudius enter the scene to burry Ophelia, Hamlet lets his emotions run wild after Laertes outbursts in an emotional rage. Laertes obviously loves his sister dearly and wishes that from her “fair and unpolluted