Hamlet tells Horatio that as a child he knew Yorick and is appalled at the sight of the skull. He realizes forcefully that all men will eventually become dust, even great men like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Hamlet imagines that Julius Caesar has disintegrated and is now part of the dust used to patch up a wall.
Suddenly, the funeral procession for Ophelia enters the churchyard, including Claudius , Gertrude , Laertes, and many mourning courtiers. He and Horatio hide as the procession approaches the grave. As Ophelia is laid in the earth, Hamlet realizes it is she who has died. At the same moment, Laertes becomes infuriated with the priest, who says that to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial would profane the dead. Grief-stricken and outraged, Hamlet bursts upon the company, declaring in agonized fury his own love for Ophelia.
Hamlet cries that he would do things for Ophelia that Laertes could not dream of—he would eat a crocodile for her, he would be buried alive with her. The combatants are pulled apart by the funeral company. Gertrude and Claudius declare that Hamlet is mad. Of all the days i'th' year, I came to't that day that our. How long is that since? Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
Why, because he was mad. He shall recover his wits there;. There the men are as mad as he. How came he mad? Very strangely, they say. How, strangely? Faith, e'en with losing his wits. Upon what ground? Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton here,. How long will a man lie i'th'earth ere he rot?
Faith, if he be not rotten before 'a die — as we have many. A tanner will. Why he more than another? Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade that he will. Here's a skull now. This skull hath lain i'th' earth three-and-twenty years.
Whose was it? A whoreson mad fellow's it was. Whose do you think it was? Nay, I know not. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue!
This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester. E'en that. Let me see. Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio,. My gorge rises. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs?
Your flashes of merriment that were wont. No one now to mock your. Quite chop-fall'n? Now get you to my. Make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing. What's that, my lord?
Dost thou think Alexander looked of this fashion i'th' earth? E'en so. And smelt so? E'en so, my lord. To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why, may not. No, faith, not a jot — but to follow him thither with modesty.
And likelihood to lead it as thus: Alexander died,. Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the. And why, of that loam. Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,. Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe. Should patch a wall t'expel the winter's flaw!
But soft, but soft, aside! Here comes the king,. The queen, the courtiers. Who is that they follow,. This doth betoken,. The corpse they follow did with desperate hand.
Fordo it own life. Couch we awhile and mark. According to a universal custom dating back to the earliest days of Christianity, Catholics are wont whenever it is possible, to erect their churches facing the Orient, or the Holy Land in honor of the Savior, the Blessed Founder of their religion.
In modern Catholic cemeteries, where there is no sacred temple, the Church erects in its stead a great cross which also faces the Orient, and round about it she consigns to their long sleep her faithful children, all turned towards the East, whence in their Christian hope of a glorious resurrection, they await the second coming of the Savior, their God and King.
How to cite this article: Blackmore, Simon Augustine. The Riddles of Hamlet. Shakespeare Online. Unlike Queen Gertrude, Ophelia has good reason to be unaware of the harsh realities of life.
She is very young, and has lost her mother, possibly at birth. Her father, Polonius, and brother, Laertes, love Ophelia tremendously, and have taken great pains to shelter her.
She is not involved with matters of state; she spends her days no doubt engaged in needlepoint and flower gathering. Read on Did You Know? Four more quarto versions followed, and the play was also included in the First Folio of Please click here to learn more about the Bad Quarto of Hamlet.
All Rights Reserved. Picking one up, Hamlet learns that it once belonged to Yorick, who was the court jester at Elsinore when Hamlet was a boy. Hamlet remembers him fondly, and he laments the fact that someone who was once funny and joyful has simply turned into a skull in a graveyard.
His musings are interrupted by the entrance of Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, and a whole host of attendants. Hamlet watches from afar until Laertes jumps in the grave, begging to be buried with his sister.
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