Transcendence

When Hamlets death grows near, the text starts reflecting upon the impact and the transcendence of life. The gravedigger scene expresses Hamlets ideas about what everyone becomes. He uses Alexander to represent how someone so great was reduced to something so basic: “Do you think Alexander looked o’ this / fashion i’ th’ earth?” (V.i.204-205). It then becomes clear that your body will always rot and that the only way you will be remembered is because of your actions. Alexander was remembered and so was Hamlet. The inclusion of real people into the play makes it believable and gives it a feeling of sophistication.

Like many Shakespeare tragedies most of the main characters, if not all, die at the end. The play was concluded in a short scene. Kings, Queens, Princes, and lovers perished in a rather small period of time. I was intrigued at the rate that the characters were slain. Maybe it goes hand in hand with the idea that the death of your body is only important if your actions will not be remembered. Because they all died so quickly, Shakespeare might be trying to prove that their story will live on even after death.