Hamlet 5:1 Flashcards
what is the importance of the gravedigger scene?
- the new location is a grim symbol of the massacre to come
- tone is lightened by the comic gravediggers (referred to as 1 Clown and 2 Clown), providing relief after the news of Ophelia’s death/suicide
- also allow Shakespeare to explore controversial themes like suicide, death, class divides, etc. with a light touch
‘Is she to be buried in…’
‘Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she wilfully seeks her own salvation?’ - 1 Clown
- ‘1 Clown’ - comic relief at a heavy moment, like the porter scene in Macbeth
- first mention that Ophelia may have committed suicide, Gertrude avoided the idea
‘I tell thee she is…’
‘I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave straight. The crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial.’ - 2 Clown
- coroner’s verdict is final
‘How can that be, unless she…’
‘How can that be, unless she drown’d herself in her own defence?’ - 1 Clown
- (killing someone in self defence was acceptable)
‘It must be ‘see offendendo’ it cannot…’
‘It must be ‘see offendendo’ it cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act; and an act hath three branches - it is to act, to do, to perform; argal, she drown’d herself wittingly.’ - 1 Clown
- the mispronunciated/used latin words convey a lack of understanding or education but also these lower-class characters making fun of the lawyers, philosophers, and judges of their world
‘If the man go to…’
‘If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes - mark you that; but if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself.’ - 1 Clown
- the two gravediggers are almost setting up a ridiculous logic of discussion
‘If this had not been a…’
‘If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out a Christian burial.’ - 2 Clown
- move on to discuss class and privilege, if Ophelia had not been of noble birth, she wouldn’t have been given such burial if suicide was suspected
‘the more pity that great folk should have…’
‘the more pity that great folk should have count’nance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christen.’ - 1 Clown
- why do powerful/noble folk have more freedom/permission to commit suicide than their fellow Christians
‘There is not ancient…’
‘There is not ancient gentlemen but gard’ners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam’s profession.’ - 1 Clown
- would have been a popular line for the groundlings
- no social distinction in Eden
‘Was he a…’
‘‘A was the first that…’
‘Was [Adam] a gentleman?’ - 2 Clown
‘‘A was the first that ever bore arms.’ - 1 Clown
What does 1 Clown respond to the suggestion that Adam did not bear arms (and so was not a gentleman)?
‘The Scripture says Adam digg’d. Could he dig without arms?’ - 1 Clown
- creates a connection between Adam and the gravediggers/clowns
‘If thou answerest me not…’
‘If thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself -‘ - 1 Clown
- reference to the proverb ‘confess thyself and be hanged’
‘What is he that builds…’
‘The… for that…’
‘What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?’ - 1 Clown
‘The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.’ - 2 Clown
‘Cudgel thy brains no…’
‘Cudgel thy brains no more about t, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating; and when you are ask’d this question next, say ‘a grave-maker’: the houses he makes lasts till doomsday.’ - 1 clown
- telling him not to beat his brains over it as beating a stupid mule doesn’t make it go faster
‘Has this fellow no…’
‘Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that ‘a sings in grave-making?’ - Hamlet
‘Custom hath made it…’
‘Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.’ - Horatio
- long practice has made the gravedigger unaffected by his work, hence his ability to sing while he works
- shows a rationality and awareness (perhaps depicting the difference between him and Hamlet)
'’Tis e’en so; the hand…’
'’Tis e’en so; the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.’ - Hamlet
either:
- the idle rich are not used to such tasks
- the hand of the unemployed is sensitive
‘[Thrown up…]’
‘That skull had…’
‘[Thrown up a skull.]’ - SD, 1 Clown
‘That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it ‘twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder!’ - Hamlet
- biblical allusion suggesting that Cain - like Claudius - deserves no pity for the crime of fratricide
- medieval tradition that believed Cain bludgeoned Abel with the jawbone of an ass
what does the skull and the way 1 Clown treats it trigger in Hamlet?
- he talks about how the skull could be that of anyone: ‘a politician’ ‘courtier’ ‘Lord Such-a-one’ ‘a lawyer’
- returns to his ideas of death as an equalizer from 4:3 (‘two dishes but to one table’ ‘the worm that hath eaten of a king’)
‘and now my Lady…’
‘and now my Lady Worm’s chapless, and knock’d about the mazard with a sexton’s spade. Here’s fine revolution, an we had the trick to see’t.’ - Hamlet
- ‘chapless’ - body has been eaten by worms
- recalls his earlier points about how the king and peasant are equal in death
‘Why may not that be the skull…’
‘Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks?’ - Hamlet
‘Why does he suffer this…’
‘Why does [the lawyer Hamlet imagines the second skull to be from] suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery?’ - Hamlet
‘Is this the fine of his…’
‘Is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine plate full of fine dirt?’ - Hamlet
- play on meanings with ‘fine’ referring to: the end result, a legal settlement, noble, thin
‘The very conveyances…’
‘The very conveyances of his lands will scarcely lie in this box’ - Hamlet
