Comedy in Hamlet

Shakespeare’s Hamlet has often been considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest piece of literature of all time. What truly makes Hamlet so unique is Shakespeare’s use of comedic variety in such a dramatic tragedy. Arguably, Hamlet is the only one of Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists that has a sense of humor and embraces it. Hamlet is very witty and uses his language to play games and make fun of the other characters in the play. In Act II, scene ii, Polonius confronts Hamlet, who appears insane. Hamlet calls Polonius a “fishmonger” when Polonius first approaches him, acting as if he does not know Polonius. Hamlet also tells him that if Polonius should ever let his daughter walk freely she would become pregnant. Confused by Hamlet’s words, Polonius believes Hamlet to be crazy, but he does realize that some of Hamlet’s answers are full of meaning. In reality Hamlet’s crazy rambles hid his insults towards Polonius.

Hamlet is a play about death, yet in Act V, scene i, the subject of suicide is debated yet again, but by the gravediggers, who play the role of clowns in the play. The gravediggers comment on Ophelia’s suicide, making fun of the fact she is to receive a Christian burial even though she drowned herself, “unless she drowned herself in her own defense?” (V.i.6-7). They are critical of their superiors and are aware of the social injustice: that a Christian killed herself and is still awarded a Christian funeral because she is rich. The gravediggers use language well; using riddles alluding to Adam and Christ. These riddles say that gravediggers are not only man’s oldest profession, but that “the houses that he makes last till doomsday,” (V.i.55). The graves they dig are the homes of the dead that will exist long after anything a carpenter (Christ) has constructed. Essentially they are saying their profession has a longer effect on the earth than Jesus Christ. These two characters speak cleverly and offer a balance to Hamlet’s obsession with death. As Hamlet enters, to his bewilderment he notices the gravedigger singing and digging a grave. Horatio states that he has gotten so used to graves that they no longer bother him (V.i.60). The gravedigger carelessly throws a skull out of the grave, and Hamlet says the gravedigger is defying God, acting as if his job is more important than God's. One could argue that the gravedigger defiantly believes so, citing his riddle from earlier in the scene.