Hamlet Essay

The gravedigger scene in Hamlet reflects many themes that are explored throughout the entire play. The discussion that the gravediggers have as they prepare Ophelia’s grave offers a sense of nostalgia for the reader, as they gravediggers speak of concepts that have been previously introduced, such as the place of religion in society and the true meaning of life. The purpose of Shakespeare including this scene with the gravediggers is not solely for comedy, as many may first assume. He has the gravediggers speak of Ophelia and the way she died in order to display her in a different light, showing various reasons as to why she may have killed herself in the first place, and why her suicide may not be as much of a sin as Christianity makes it seem. Ophelia’s suicide may be a result of insanity, revenge, and the idea of existentialism, three major themes of Hamlet that affected Ophelia in her own life. For this reason, Shakespeare may have had the clowns speak of Ophelia in this manner to explain more about the purpose of the play.
When the gravediggers make comments about Ophelia in her death, their contrasting ideas represent those of Hamlet. Hamlet admits his confusion regarding suicide in the misery that results from losing his father. He explains that he is unsure of the real meaning of life, and he feels that life, in itself, is not worth living. It can be said that Hamlet considers suicide because he is in an unhealthy state of mind because of his father’s death, but it is possible that through his sadness, Hamlet sees what he believes to be the truth - that there is no meaning to life. This may be the same view that Ophelia has of life before she drowns herself, which may also stem from her misery.
In scene five, act 1, one of the clowns says, “he/ that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.” This proposes the idea that Ophelia was not guilty of her own suicide. The clown does not blame Ophelia for taking her own life because she may have felt violated, so she committed suicide out of self-defense. The line, “How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence?” proves this idea. It can be argued that Ophelia was mentally tortured before her death. She was in love with a man who gave her no attention, and her father, seemingly the only man to look out for her best interests, was killed. This may have resulted in Ophelia experiencing symptoms of madness prior to her suicide, which would mean that Ophelia cannot be blamed for her death, just as Hamlet cannot be blamed by the others for being driven “mad” by his father’s death.
When Hamlet and Horatio arrive, Hamlet, again, seems to be acting madly as he plays with the skulls in the graveyard. The first few skulls he throws around he describes in similar manners of how he speaks of certain characters in the play. He describes the first skull as a relative of Cain, the world’s first murderer according to the Christian Bible. In Act 5, scene 1, Hamlet says,
“That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once:/ how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were/Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It/might be the pate of a politician, which this ass/now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God,/might it not?” Alluding to Cain as a murderer and calling the skull of “politician” refers to Claudius, a murderer who killed his own brother in order to gain power. The second skull Hamlet picks up is that of a courtier’s, as Hamlet says, and as he speaks of how the courtier is unconditionally loyal to the king, it seems that he is speaking of Polonius. The third skull represents Gertrude as Hamlet describes the skull by saying, “chapless, and/ knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade.”
Finally, the “lawyer” that is the last skull, can be viewed as the summation of the meaning of all of their lives. He describes the lawyer as a greedy man who works all of his life to become wealthy, but in the end, all he can keep is the coffin that he lies in after death. Again, Hamlet expresses the view that there is no meaning to any of their lives, so all that they have achieved, by love, skill, and murder, is worthless.
Though Christian references can be found in Hamlet, the play explores a very anti-Christian idea – existentialism. Shakespeare shapes Hamlet in a way that allows him to view the world I ways that are not common to people of his time and social stature. In Hamlet, the only reason to live is the idea of revenge for many of the characters. This motivation eventually leads to insanity for these characters. Ophelia truly does go insane on her own accord, Hamlet and Laertes go mad in carrying out their deeds of revenge, and King Claudius drives himself crazy in his quest for power. The conversations that emerge between the clowns during their gravedigging sequence reflects each of these ideas thoroughly as they discuss the meaning of life and the reasons in which someone may want to end their life in a way that reflects the purpose of the rest of the play.