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Pondering Death in William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'

© Jennifer Alpeche

Take up the body. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.¹

By the end of "Hamlet," we see that Prince Hamlet has successfully avenged his father's murder, but at the tragic expense of his own life, and that of others -- including his mother. Poisoned and dying, having lost most everyone dear to him, Hamlet stops his friend Horatio from continuing the procession of death: "Give me the cup. Let go. By heaven", (5.2.285). Horatio's time has not yet come, and Hamlet provides his friend with a task to fulfill, just as his father had given him:

O God, Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity a while,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.

(5.2.286-99)

More than any other play, "Hamlet" contemplates death and all that is connected to it, including atonement and heaven. The subject matter, though grave, is dealt with in various ways, from humor and fear to resentment and philosophy. Characters question the nature of death and wonder about its implications to the person who has died, as well as for those who are left behind. What happens to a person after the last breath is spent? Do unresolved issues affect a person after death? And if so, is a peaceful afterlife possible in spite of this?

Death is woven into the plot of "Hamlet" from the very start, with a secret fratricide being the reason for royal disorder and family disunity. Indeed, the power of death reverberates throughout "Hamlet" and its presence sets the stage for a great many questions, led by the most famous of all: "To be or not to be, that is the question" (3.1.58).

In Act 5, Scene 1, Hamlet and Horatio happen upon a gravedigger preparing a grave site. To make the new site, the gravedigger goes about removing the bones of others who have been previously buried there. The gravedigger is merry in his work, having done his trade for so long, and as Hamlet observes, he contemplates those whose skulls have now been removed so unceremoniously from the earth:

That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How that knave jowls it to th' ground as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician which this ass o'er-offices, one that would circumvent God, might it not?

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