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.