The Grave Diggers Scene Serve as a Dramatic/Comic Relief in Hamlet?
In
Act V, Scene I, of Hamlet, two grave diggers enter and discuss the inquest into
the death of Ophelia that was called to decide whether her death was accidental
or suicide. One gravedigger
remarks that she will have a Christian burial
because she is a gentle woman. While the other gravedigger goes to find a
pitcher of liquor, Hamlet and Horatio enter. Hamlet is shocked to hear the
gravedigger do his job with such a lack o feeling as he digs and sings snippets
of ballads. When the Prince questions the gravedigger, his replies are so
equivocal that Hamlet becomes annoyed with his rudeness. The grave diggers are
introduced to relieve the audience from the tragic tension of the play. The
technique is known as ‘comic or dramatic relief’. Through these gravediggers
Shakespeare conveys some generalizations also. There is a common saying that
there is one law for the poor and another for the rich. This is found in giving
a Christian burial to Ophelia, who is supposed to have committed suicide. At
the same time the digger’s jovial conversation while digging a grave without
the sense of solemnity shows that the familiarity of a task robs the job of its
gruesome aspects. On another level, it shows how they have, in a sense, come to
terms with death.
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