By Morgan Zellers

In William Shakespeare’s 17th century play Hamlet, there exists a scene in which the young Danish Prince Hamlet remarks to his friend Horatio about the physical aspects of death whilst in a graveyard. At one point in this scene, he uses references to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar returning to the Earth after their deaths. This occurs in Act V Scene I from lines 197 to 205 in the 2006 edition of The Arden Shakespeare edited by Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor (Shakespeare 424). These lines, in which Hamlet marvels at the physical finality and humility of death, not only present those involved in Shakespeare Studies with many choices to make, but also portray the increasing deterioration of not only the mind of Hamlet the Dane, but his sanity as well.

When using Hamlet to reference Alexander the Great in order to portray the finality and humility of death, Shakespeare writes “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam, and why of that loam whereto he was converted might they not stop a beer-barrel?” (Shakespeare 424). Here Shakespeare is saying that no matter how great a man Alexander was during his lifetime, after death he goes into the earth and becomes a part of it just as every other man. At this point in the play, Hamlet has already directly taken the life of Polonius as well as sending his childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in England. Despite already having dealt with the aforementioned deaths in addition to the death of his father, the young prince just now begins to think about the physical aspects of death on the body. Even though surrounded by death, Hamlet is awestruck at the possibility of Alexander the Great’s remains being mixed with the dust of the earth and then being used to “stop a beer-barrel” (Shakespeare 424).

Shakespeare allows us to makes use of another comparison in the lines following. This time using Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes about death humbling great men:

Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.

O, that that earth [Caesar’s body] which kept the world in awe

Should patch a wall t’expel the water’s flaw. (Shakespeare 424)

Here, “that earth” is referring to Caesar’s body. In Act III scene I of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony refers to Caesar’s body as “thou bleeding piece of earth”. These four lines of verse represent Prince Hamlet’s fascination at how the great emperor Julius Caesar could die, mix with the clay of the earth, be turned into a stop, and be used to plug a wall somewhere. The idea that any man could fall so far seems so uncomfortable to the Danish prince. Hamlet exclaims how tragic it is that the great emperor who once ruled half the world could be used as a patch in the wall to keep out the elements.

In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2009 production of Hamlet, the lines about Alexander the Great are omitted from the performance (Hamlet). David Tennant, playing Prince Hamlet, is presented with many options during this particular part of the graveyard scene. This portion of the play presents performers, directors, and critics with many different paths to take. Any actors playing Hamlet have the dizzying task of deciding how to represent the young prince and his madness. When viewing a production of Hamlet, the audience’s opinion as to the degree of Prince Hamlet’s madness is largely up to the actor and how he views the character. An actor who views Hamlet as an insane sociopath will portray a different character than an actor who views Hamlet as a loyal and vengeful son. Directors have many options to make changes to the script for this part of the play. Some directors could add, omit, or rearrange lines from the text and by doing so, completely change the feeling and mood of the scene. Critics face one large challenge when looking at this portion of the play; the difficulty is not in moving past the words on the page and realizing the deeper meaning between the lines. The difficulty comes in finding nuances between the opinions of critics and what those nuances signify to the overall text. One critic may feel that Shakespeare is simply tipping his own hat to himself for his previous works by mentioning Julius Caesar, while another may feel that Shakespeare is foreshadowing the end for Hamlet by making him marvel at the finality of death. Each critic must now attempt to open their eyes to other opinions and decide how said other opinions affect the overall tone of the scene and play.

In Act III Scene III, King Claudius is knelt praying as Hamlet approaches him. Hamlet plans to exact revenge on him for the murder of Hamlet’s father at this moment but as he draws his sword, he stops. At this instance, Hamlet uses his scholarly knowledge to summon rational reasons that, if he kills the king while he prays, Hamlet will send him to heaven. The young prince does not feel that this will be any sort of revenge at all if he slays Claudius in his moment of prayer (331). Compare this episode to the one in which Hamlet remarks on the physical aspects of death. In Act III, he uses his knowledge to reason with himself and to justify not killing Claudius. This paints a picture of a rational scholar using his sharp knowledge to avoid making a mistake.

Looking now to the event in the graveyard, Hamlet makes no mention of spirituality or of the afterlife; he only remarks upon the physical aspects of death. He marvels at how a man as great as Alexander could return to the Earth as dust and be used to make the loam used to stop a bottle. This episode paints a much different picture; one of a man losing his mind and his sanity. A completely sane scholar such as Hamlet would not simply think about the physical effects on the body after death, he would remark on the spirituality, the inevitability, and perhaps the prospect of a life after death. All of these things are certainly more philosophical views of death than the one young Prince Hamlet takes.

It is also very peculiar that Hamlet seems to be so saddened by his sudden revelation of the finality of death. At this point in the play, Hamlet’s mind dwells on nothing but vengeful thoughts toward King Claudius. It would seem that the prince would be elated at the finality of death, seeing as how he is, at this point, obsessed with murdering the king. Hamlet should be excited at the idea of the cunning King Claudius falling so low as to be made into clay to plug a hole in a barrel somewhere, especially after passing up a chance to kill the king for fear of sending him to heaven. Perhaps a saner prince would have made this connection, but at this point, Hamlet is mad with vengeance and unable to formulate deep thoughts.

Nine lines of text from one scene can tell us more about Hamlet the Dane than many other things ever will. This page of the play also presents many paths for those involved in Shakespeare Studies to go down. Actors must choose how they view Hamlet in order to represent him and his level of madness to an audience. Directors must look deep into the text for meaning, and decide if and how they desire to manipulate it to fit their vision for a production. Critics and researchers must find nuances in one another’s opinions and step back and formulate their own opinion as to how these nuances affect the line, scene, and play. These nine lines show us the face of a once proud scholar whose mind is now dominated by thoughts of vengeance and madness. At this point in the play, the young Danish prince is surrounded by death. He has grieved the death of his father, murdered Polonius in a fit of rage, and sent his two oldest friends to their timely deaths in England. Despite the overwhelming presence of death in Hamlet’s life, it takes the skull of his father’s jester for him to be impacted by the thought of death. This, like many things in these lines, can lead us to the conclusion that Hamlet is not in a rational state of mind at this point in the play. A reasonable and rational scholar would not be awestruck by the finality and humility of death; said scholar would remark on the spirituality and inevitability of death. A sane prince looking to avenge his father would make the connection between the finality of death and the person he is about to put to death. If the prince was in a rational and sane state of mind, he would realize this connection and be overjoyed at it, rather than being awed. Hamlet should be elated at the finality of death; he wishes to give the king a terrible death that will send him to hell, a death that condemns him both spiritually and physically.