Hamlet (Act V)

The introduction of Hamlet to the gravedigger is important. He is the first character that Hamlet interacts with who's not royalty. He is a mere mortal, carrying out Adam's work. "Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gard'ners, ditchers, and grave-makers. They hold up Adam's profession" (Hamlet 241). He is a different kind of person, somewhat refreshing. He is not full of himself, and has learned to make peace with that which he does--digging graves; day in and day out. It connects life, from the bottom of society (meant purely in profession) to that of nobility. Hamlet is not any better then the gravedigger, his family and long lineage of nobility does not make him “superior” so to say. The ending draws together not only life and death, and where it meets. Not only the moments prior to the deaths of many characters, but also very alive gravedigger, and interaction of the decaying skulls. In Act V, all is brought together. Life meets death, meets the different classes. Poison is used in the beginning—how King Hamlet was killed, and poison is used in the end to kill Prince Hamlet. Stabs are met with stabs, and evil is ideally confronted with consequences. Everything is connected which creates a strong ending note for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Act 5

Laertes, in Hamlet , is a very peculiar character because of the complexity of his personality. It is very difficult to label him a good or a bad natured character. From his entrance in the play in Act 5 scene 1, to his ultimate death in Act 5 scene 2, he goes through dynamic character changes. From the time of his entrance he is already marred by the death of his father, by Hamlet, and with the combination of Claudius’s domineering influence, he allied himself against Hamlet. Afterwards they meet at the graveyard and during their quarrel, you hear words from Claudius that change the readers mind over his actual intentions. He says that he truly loved his sister just as much as Hamlet did, and it appears Laertes really can love unlike Claudius, and seems that he is actually more like Hamlet then the king. In the final scene during the duel, after Laertes agrees to kill Hamlet, he begins to have some hesitation before entering his duel saying “Ill hit him now… And yet it is almost against my conscience.” Pg. 279 ll.323-4 Showing his regret for having dueled Hamlet, in this plot to murder him. Then when he is struck down, in a moment of clarity, he asks for forgiveness from Hamlet, and cites the king’s evil, not his, that has done him in.

everyone is dead.

welcome to the end of Hamlet, shakespeare's tragedy. here's how it goes: everyone dies. the end.
but before everyone dies, hamlet has a nice little chat with a common gravedigger.
when we talked about the gravedigger, who's supposed to be played by a clown, we decided that he and hamelt were good conversation partners. it's funny; hamlet hasn't been matched up evenly with anyone in terms of his intellectual prowess/wit. this is the first time we see it challenged, and hamlet loses. a simple, poor, almost beggarly man--with a downright depressing and dirty job -- beasts hamlet at a word joust. it's completely unexpected, and kind of humbles hamlet enough to put him on the same playing field as the gravedigger.
equally unexpected is the personality and lightness in character of the gravedigger. after all, he spends his entire day digging holes in the ground for dead people, and somehow he's managed to make light work of it-- singing to skulls, making fun of them, chatting w/ strangers about the former occupiers of the skeletons. he echoes hamlet's style of conversation, by avoiding directly answering questions-- he skirts around the subject using puns and playing with words, even more than hamlet.
hamlet, on the other hand, opens up a lot to the gravedigger, while the gravedigger remains pretty self-contained. his whole speech about yorick is very personal, and very heartfelt (especiall in branagh's version-- all the flashbacks certainly help us in that direction). it's interesting that he is so open w/ such a stranger in this sense.
it also helps that the gravedigger doesn't know that hamlet is...well, hamlet. this allows him to talk more freely, and it's great for hamlet, because he gets to hear how his banishment was perceived by the rest of the world outside of the court.

Act 5: The Gravedigger

I find the gravedigger to be a really interesting character. He is a much simpler, honest man than most of the others in the play so far. His frankness--partly because he doesn't know who Hamlet is--is refreshing, both to us and to Hamlet. This is why Hamlet seems to speak a little more openly with the gravedigger; something about the way the gravedigger speaks to him makes him sure that this isn't someone who's going to "play" him. Even if the gravedigger is playing himself down a little, his simplicity and honesty makes him a much more amiable personality; he's easy to converse with, with no concerns of deceit or manipulation. The gravedigger provides a base off of which Hamlet puts together his own views about death and revenge, so that when he returns to the Court, he will act based on his own views rather than on what a good son "should" do to revenge his father's murder. Hamlet won't compare himself to Laertes anymore, but do what he personally believes is right/necessary.

hamlet, act 5

The last act of this play is fast-paced and full of excitement...and death. Claudius and Laertes' plans to kill Hamlet backfire, also bringing death to themselves and the queen. As the fatal fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes begins, Hamlet proposes a truce between themselves, as an apology on his part. Laertes doesn't exactly reciprocate the action, but seems to forgive Hamlet, at least to his face. Laertes proves to be unwilling to accept responsibility for his part in the plan--even as he is dying he blames everything on Claudius. Also, when he is about to stab Hamlet with the poisoned sword, he says "and yet it is almost against my conscience." It's hard to tell whether his actions actually reflect his thoughts. In the end they all die; Hamlet asks Horatio to tell the story of what happened, and Fortinbras becomes the heir to the Danish throne.

Act V

Humm Act 5. The closing to a great play. The name of the play is even "The TRAGEDY of Hamlet.." well, now we can all see why it is named so. Everyone dies. Well, practically everyone. In order of death: King Hamlet, Pilonious, Ophelia, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, Hamlet. Only Heratio and a few others live on. One could also say, that at the beginning of Act V, with the gravedigger, that could be considered foreshadowing; because it shows death. In all, Hamlet was an excellent play. Further, reflecting back on Hamlet, we notice that Hamlet has changed after coming back from England. He is more solemn and quite furious and upset by the most heart wrenching incident that the person he loves, Ophelia, has died.