Hamlet Group

Question:

hooker
hooker
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What is the significance of the grave diggers scene in Hamlet?

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Posted by hooker on Saturday August 22, 2009 at 2:41 AM and tagged with act 5 scene 1, grave diggers, hamlet, william shakespeare.

Answers:

  1. melissamd
    melissamd Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    In the gravedigger scene, Hamlet returns home and changes.  This scene is where the madness leaves Hamlet and he embraces the seriousness of the situation. First, we have the symbolism and foreshadowing of death (the skulls, the graves, the funeral).  Then we have Hamlet coming to realize the love of his life is being lowered into the ground, and he has to take responsibility--in his own mind he knows he may have had a great deal to do with this.  He shows his love for her by his actions at her graveside.  The symbolism of life moving on, the past becoming the present, is represented by the fact that Yorick's grave is being dug up to make room for Ophelia.

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    Posted by melissamd on Saturday August 22, 2009 at 4:06 AM