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What happens in Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet?
Hamlet and Horatio encounter a couple of comedic gravediggers, then discover that Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes have come to bury Ophelia. Hamlet and Laertes fight in Ophelia’s grave until they are pulled apart.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Act 5, Scene 1. (3-minute read)
Are any important new characters introduced in Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet?
First, we meet the comedic but oddly wise Gravediggers. Despite their humble lives, they are exceedingly clever and skilled at wordplay, but to the delight of Hamlet. The banter that they engage in with each other and with Hamlet provides a brief respite of levity between Ophelia’s suicide and the bloodbath that is to come in the upcoming final scene of the play. Because of them, we also get a very timely history lesson about Hamlet’s father and Fortinbras’s father.
Read an in-depth analysis of the Gravediggers. (2-minute read)
The other character we meet in Act 5, Scene 1 (although only symbolically) is Yorick, who appears on the stage in the form of a skull that Hamlet holds as he fondly reminisces about his innocent childhood, long before Denmark became awash in royal corruption.
Read about how Yorick’s Skull serves as a key Symbol in Hamlet. (1-minute read)
The appearance of Yorick’s skull in Scene 1 of the final act of Hamlet also solidifies a key theme of the play that has been gestating throughout the play: Death as Mystery and Solution.
Read about the Theme (fifth) of Death as Mystery and Solution in Hamlet. (2-minute read).
Are there any important quotes in Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet?
The first scene of Act 5 offers a rich trove of meaningful quotes, with most related to Hamlet and Horatio’s encounter with the Gravediggers and Hamlet’s subsequent soliloquy about Yorick and the finality of death. However, there is also an important quote about Ophelia’s presumed suicide making her ineligible for a sanctified burial and an outburst by Hamlet at Laertes in which he hyperbolically claims he loved her more than Laertes did.
Read explanations to 7 important quotes from Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet. (4-minute read)
