the character ofPolonius. As this bombastic, shallow old man freely dispenses advice, he seems foolish rather than dangerous; the audience can easily laugh at him early in the play. But in allying himself with Claudius in spying on Hamlet, he endangers his own life, even though Hamlet’s rashness is what actually kills him.

In his instructions to the players, Hamlet also uses humor. Not an actor himself, he goes on at great length recommending the proper course of action that they should follow. Because the audience does not know in advance what lines he inserted into their script, the tone of his instructions seems lighthearted before their performance begins. This light mood turns dark in the dumbshow when a murder, duplicating that of Hamlet Senior, is enacted.

Finally, as the play grows even darker toward the end after numerous deaths have occurred, Shakespeare inserts the gravediggers as a pair of joking workmen who use humor to help them cope with their difficult job. This humorous scene, with its extreme incongruity to the play’s overall tone, foreshadows the very serious turn of events resulting in multiple deaths—including that of Hamlet—in the last scene.

The most extensive piece of comic relief in Hamlet is in Act V Scene 1.

The scene begins with a discussion between two "clowns" who are digging a grave for Ophelia, who has committed suicide.  The clowns engage in a convoluted discussion about whether a suicide victim should be granted a "Christian burial."  Part of the humor is in  the clowns' mispronunciation of legal terms: "se offendendo" for se-defenden-do [in self-defence], and "argal" for ergo [therefore].

The clowns continue by posing riddles to each other.  The answers to the riddles are grave-digging and gallows maker.

Hamlet and Horatio arrive and engage the gravedigging clown in humorous conversation.   As they are talking, the gravedigger unearths a skull which he says is that of Yorick, a man who had been court jester to Hamlet's father.   This gives Hamlet opportunity to reflect on the nature of death.  He realizes that all people, no matter how great, will return to dust and that their skulls will be useless except for "stopping a bung hole"--for plugging a wine barrel.

Although the scene is full of jokes, it deals with man's mortality.  It is a perfect introduction to the play's next and final scene, in which Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius, and Hamlet all meet their deaths.

The beginning of Act 5 is the best place to how comic elements actually heighten the tragedy of the play.  At the start of Act 5 two grave diggers are joking around as they prepare what we know is going to Ophelia's grave.  Hamlet is at first disturbed by their joking and seeming irreverance for the job, but realizes that even grave-digging could become a "habit" that becomes common.  Once Hamlet starts talking to the grave digger there are lots of jokes about the ownership of the grave and what happens when people die.  All of this conversation just lays heavy on us as audience members though because even though we are laughing, we know that the "other foot is going to fall" when Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is dead.  In fact, the mood changes pretty quickly when Hamlet finds himself holding Yorick's skull -- the skull of the court jester who he knew so well as a child.  All of a sudden, death isn't just a theory, it is very REAL.  Hamlet realizes that no matter what you were in life, when you are dead you are ashes.  It is a rather sobering thought. 

Death becomes even more real and more devastating when seeing Ophelia's funeral procession and Laertes' show of grief.  The comedic elements of a few minutes ago are long gone when Hamlet makes his bold proclamations of love and grief over Ophelia.  The tragedy is certainly heighten by the juxtaposition of conversations in this scene.