Hamlet essay

Scene five initially unfolds with the two gravediggers discussing the burial of Ophelia.  Back in the day, if one committed a suicide, it was the ultimate sin and they were not worthy of a Christian burial in the churchyard. This conversation between the two gravediggers symbolizes how religious people were in the Elizabethan times and how sins were generally not overlooked. Shakespeare is attempting to stress the importance of religion in this scene and how even people that are not as important as others have a say concerning this matter.  He makes it apparent that the gravediggers serve a purpose in Act five due to the great themes they brings forth to the tragedy, specifically, economic irrelevance once one is deceased and existentialism.   

The main gravedigger commences to singing songs while he digs up a variety of skulls of wretched souls. Hamlet is shocked by the gravedigger’s lack of sympathy as he nonchalantly tosses the skulls around as if they are worthless compost.  He contemplates about whom these skulls might have belonged to. By displaying the throwing of the skulls, Shakespeare is making an effort to show that everyone dies, their economic status and place in society is irrelevant. Hamlet perplexedly states, “Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now . . . ?” (V.i.90–91). Hence, the lawyer and the courtier might have had an impact on someone’s life while they were alive, but once their bodies are buried, life goes on and does not stop for anyone.

Allusions play an important role in this scene; Shakespeare mentions legendary men such as, Adam, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar. Hamlet ultimately comes to the realization that all men eventually perish and no one is spared of death’s wrath.  In the beginning acts of the play, Hamlet deliberated committing suicide and in this scene it is evident he is glad he did not do so. By looking at the bodies and how people as insignificant as gravediggers can have an immense amount of supremacy over people that once were much more vital to society, Hamlet is repulsed. For someone who is looked upon so highly while he is living, he now knows that people will react inconsequentially years upon his death.

From a metaphorical perspective, the skulls represent the idea of existentialism. A British novelist once stated, “Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.” By this she means, make your own legacy while you are living because once you are dead, nothing you have done will truly impact the world. This quote describes the characters of Hamlet, for they all wish to be heroes in the end of the play and keep their reputation flourishing, but once they die no one foresees them as protagonists. Their deaths were simply tragic and will be forgotten about rapidly. No one’s legacy or body lives on eternally.