Gravedigger scene

E402957

comic scene dramatic scene philosophical scene scene

The Gravedigger scene is a darkly comic and philosophically rich moment in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where Hamlet confronts mortality while conversing with a witty grave-digger amid skulls and open graves.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Gravedigger scene canonical	1
Yorick's skull	1

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	comic scene ⓘ dramatic scene ⓘ philosophical scene ⓘ scene ⓘ
appearsInAct	Act V ⓘ
appearsInScene	Scene 1 ⓘ
centralQuestion	how social rank relates to death ⓘ what remains of human identity after death ⓘ
containsDevice	dramatic irony ⓘ foreshadowing ⓘ gallows humor ⓘ memento mori imagery ⓘ puns ⓘ wordplay ⓘ
dramaticFunction	to confront Hamlet with physical evidence of death ⓘ to deepen Hamlet's meditation on mortality ⓘ to provide comic relief before the final catastrophe ⓘ
featuresCharacter	First Clown ⓘ Gravedigger ⓘ Hamlet ⓘ Horatio ⓘ First Clown ⓘ surface form: Second Clown Yorick ⓘ
featuresProp	Gravedigger scene self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Yorick's skull open grave ⓘ skull ⓘ spade ⓘ
firstPerformanceApproximateYear	1600s ⓘ
fromCountry	England ⓘ
fromPeriod	English Renaissance ⓘ surface form: Elizabethan era early 17th century ⓘ
language	Early Modern English ⓘ
notableLine	Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. ⓘ
partOf	Hamlet ⓘ
partOfWorkBy	William Shakespeare ⓘ
setting	churchyard ⓘ graveyard ⓘ
theme	dark comedy ⓘ death ⓘ existential reflection ⓘ mortality ⓘ the equality of all in death ⓘ the inevitability of death ⓘ the vanity of worldly status ⓘ
tone	darkly comic ⓘ philosophical ⓘ
workGenre	tragedy ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Hamlet (stage performances) → hasFamousScene → Gravedigger scene ⓘ

Gravedigger scene → featuresProp → Gravedigger scene self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Yorick's skull