The grave digger is put in the story in order to ease the tension and dramatic seriousness of the play and seen as a comic relief because of how he is introduced as a clown and accompanied by another clown, the fact that a clown is digging up a grave and singing while he is doing it, and he broadens the themes of the story be introducing irony, gives foreshadowing to the ending of the play and uses imagery and personification to help give a deeper and more meaningful understanding of what is happening. With a title of “grave digger” many assumptions could be made on what kind of being this person is. The fact it is immediately revealed that this being is a clown and he has another clown with him at the very beginning of Act V is very comical …show more content…
This adds the theme of irony into the play because clowns are associated with laughter and happiness, yet here are two clowns that are talking about how they are going to dig up a grave for a woman’s body. Then the clown proceeds to sing and throw the skull of the deceased out of its burial place. Another element in the play that could help give a broader meaning to it is foreshadowing. The foreshadowing that happens in this play could be interpreted as what happens to the main character, Hamlet . When the second skull is thrown up, on line 141 Hamlet picks up the skull, “[Takes skull.] “This?”” He continues to hold the skull and talk to Clown and Horatio until line 154 where he throws it back onto the ground. “”And smelt so? Pah!” [Throws down the skull.]”. In the beginning of the act, the clowns only mention a single woman to be dug up, yet the clown finds two skulls in the burial ground where the said woman is. The second skull could represent Hamlet's death at the end of the play. Imagery and personification are used in this scene as a way to broaden and deepen the understanding of what is happening. The song that the clown sings is clearly about death with singing, “But age, with his stealing steps, Hath clawed me in his clutch, And hath shipped me into the land, As if I had never been such.” He refers to age as a “he” in the song, the clown is describing something that does not physically exist as a he. The …show more content…
This was done through grave digger himself was a clown and was accompanied by another clown, the clown sang a song about death and burial as he was digging up remains and somehow finding and throwing out two skulls, and used irony, foreshadowing, imagery, and personification to give the best possible understanding of what was happening in this scene and what would later be happening in the
In the beginning Samuel tries to find food to survive. This scene shows how sensory details are used to inform the reader of how Samuel try to survive. The author uses foreshadowing to show when Samuel is finding his parents. The foreshadowing shows is because it is when Samuel tries to find his parents. “One day it seemed he was eleven and playing in the dirt around the cabin or helping with chores, and the next, he was thirteen, carrying .40-caliber Pennsylvania flintlock rifle, wearing smoked-buckskin clothing and moccasins, moving through the woods like a knife through water while he tracked deer to bring home to the cabin” (Paulsen 3).
He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
Introduction During the charismatic play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses a diverse number of techniques to develop numerous themes including ambition, greed and power. Shakespeare does this through the careful manipulation of foreshadowing, character development and irony.
This encounter is essential to the plot, in that it provides for Hamlet's return from England and sets the stage for Hamlet's discovery of Ophelia's death. It brings Hamlet from the state in which he was able to easily arrange for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to one in which he can feel deep sorrow at the loss of Ophelia. It further grants him a better perspective on the nature of death and on his own fate. Its sharp focus on death further serves to prepare the audience for the conclusion of the play. Up to this point, Hamlet has been an active agent in trying to fulfill his destiny as prescribed by his father's ghost. His actions were disorganized and his goal continually foiled. For example, his attempt to control the situation renders him incapable of killing Claudius when he is at prayer, since Hamlet wishes to manipulate the circumstances of Claudius' death so that he is "about some act that has no relish in't" (III, iv, 91-2). The lesson of the graveyard is that death is inevitable, not contrived. Having learned this lesson, Hamlet is a more passive agent of his own fate and the plot resolves itself. The ...
Another purpose of the coffin is that the coffin serves as the symbol for the family's love and gratitude for Addie. Cash shows his appreciation by building the coffin. Since the coffin is his final parting gift to his mother, he makes sure that the coffin is perfect and “lifts the board for (Addie) to see, (…) shaping with his empty hand in pantomime the finished box.” Furthermore, he carefully places the coffin's planks “as if any movement might dislodge them,” and “bevels the edge of it with the tedious and minute care of a jeweler.” The image of Cash delicately constructing the coffin signify his determination of perfectly making his symbol of gratitude towards his mother. Likewise, the coffin symbolizes Vardaman's gratitude when he drills holes on the coffin “so she can breathe.” Even though his mother is dead, Vardaman do...
adds to the comedy of the rest of play. It is obvious to the audience
Humor was added to Hamlet by two major scenes, along with Hamlet's use of his antic-disposition. These two were: the scene between Hamlet and Polonius in the library, and the scene with the grave diggers (the clowns).
The Love of Ophelia It is never easy to see into a person’s heart and find their true emotions, especially when their feelings are intentionally masked to give off a different impression. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, attempts to mask specific emotions throughout the play. He tries to give off the impression that he is insane when he is near his murderous uncle and other characters because he doesn’t want them to suspect his plan of revenge. However, he silently expresses his love towards the sweet Ophelia, his girlfriend.
When Hamlet begins discussion with the gravedigger, he is presented with a skull of someone he finds out is rather close and dear to him. It also brought Hamlet to reality with Ophelia’s death, as he resumes discussions with Yoricks skull, he jokingly says “Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.” (170) revealing how one wastes so much time putting make up on their face, to mask over the inevitable aging process; and how ones fate lies within the very ground we stand on at this moment, no matter how great one is.
Although “The Grave” seems to be about two children playing in their grandfather’s grave, it is actually about the realization of gender roles, coming of age, and mortality. Katherine Anne Porter wanted the reader to look beneath the surface of the story to find the many different underlying meanings. The main character Miranda is faced with the cold hard truth that life isn’t always sweet and pleasant as she watches her brother kill and skin a pregnant rabbit.
Hamlet’s eyes were cold and dark as he stared down at Ophelia’s body, lying on the floor of the classroom.
In conclusion, a comic relief is used to relieve tension and to contrast serious scenes to increase the ultimate tragic nature of the play. Polonius uses his self absorbed dull personality to create humor in his scenes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act as the fool by their tactless actions and dialogue, their lightheartedness makes the tragic parts of the play seem all the more tragic. And finally Hamlet uses his morbid humor to intensify scenes of sorrow while he also bitterly teases others to relieve tensions at times. The comic relief in Shakespeare’s Hamlet contrasts intense scenes as to make them more intense.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the king of Denmark is murdered by his brother, Claudius, and as a ghost tells his son, Hamlet the prince of Denmark, to avenge him by killing his brother. The price Hamlet does agree to his late father’s wishes, and undertakes the responsibility of killing his uncle, Claudius. However even after swearing to his late father, and former king that he would avenge him; Hamlet for the bulk of the play takes almost no action against Claudius. Prince Hamlet in nature is a man of thought throughout the entirety of the play; even while playing mad that is obvious, and although this does seem to keep him alive, it is that same trait that also keeps him from fulfilling his father’s wish for vengeance
The Achilles heel of Wilson’s argument is his repetitive use of the word causality and the hypocritical manner in which he approaches Hamlet and Claudius respectively. He implores his audience to disavow or “refuse to be diverted from a clear vision by questions of praise and blame, responsibility and causality” (Wilson Knight, G. 1957: 186) in terms of how the audience views Hamlet but re-introduces causality in terms of Claudius who “as he appears in the play is not a criminal. He is-strange as it may seem- a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime.(Wilson Knight, G. 1957: 188)” He seems to be trying to wash Claudius clean of his sins and the effects these have had on Hamlet’s state of mind, which might have been different if Claudius’ actions had been, by removing causality from our view of his actions and their consequences but tries to purge the audience of, or redirect sympathy to Claudius by referring to him as a “good and gentle king”(Wilson Knight, G. 1957: 188) who has gotten entangled in the web of cause and effect of one evil deed. This approach is unbalanced and this essay will aim to establish a full analysis of both Hamlet and Claudius’ behaviour and mental states by examining the play and the essay in terms of causality as a prime factor.
Comic relief scenes in a Shakespearean tragedy serve to provide the spectator a moment of relief with a light hearted scene after a period of dramatic and tragic moments. However, these scenes often enhance the development of an important theme presented in the play. In William Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, gravediggers serve as the comic relief when they banter about death in a graveyard. Shakespeare's depiction of the gravediggers not only serve as comic relief, but also a serious examination of theology and social class.