Hamlet+5.1

Hamlet 5.1 2. I think this scene's purpose is for comic relief. Shakespeare is elongating the suspense and giving a little break before the climax of the play takes place. He creates a strange dialogue between Hamlet and the Gravedigger. Hamlet is asking about what happens to bodies and how long they take to rot. Hamlet is imagining who the skulls may have been and he even encounters a man he knew, Yorick's skull. There is really no point to this scene and it adds no important details to the plot line. Then, Hamlet sees Laertes and the King and Queen at the grave. When he realizes it is Ophelia's grave he jumps into the grave. He and Laertes are fighting and then Hamlet argues that he loved Ophelia. Again, I do not think this adds much to the plot line. I think Shakespeare has added this for comic relief.

9. Dramatic irony- Dramatic irony appears multiple times in the scene- Mostly at the grave. -When Hamlet is standing by the grave, he is asking the gravedigger about rotting bodies and what people turn into. He is wondering whose grave it is and is trying to ask the man who it is. It is ironic because while the reader knows it is Ophelia, Hamlet is clueless and is asking detailed questions that he may not have been asking had he known it was Ophelia - When Hamlet is talking to the gravedigger, the man does not know who he is talking to. When he encounters Yorick's skull, the Kings previous jester, the gravedigger begins to talk about Hamlet. Hamlet begins asking about "Hamlet" and asking about where he is and how he went crazy. This is ironic because the gravedigger has no idea that he s actually talking to Hamlet at the time.

5. I was surprised with Hamlet's reaction to Ophelia's death. I expected him to be really upset but he completely went on a rant about how in love he was with her. This was confusing to me seemings how he played her and didn't pay much attention to her. I thought he had liked her but wasn't completely in love with her. He says, "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?" (5.1.285-287). I find this hard to believe. Hamlet takes his "love" for her extremely over the top and keeps ranting about it. I can not tell if he is sincere or not. It kind of leads me to believe he is losing his sanity a little.