Beginning of Essay
In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, contrast plays a major role. Characters have foils, scenes and ideas contrast each other, sometimes within the same soliloquy. One such contrast occurs in Act Five, Scene One, in the graveyard. Here, the relatively light mood in t ....

Middle of Essay
.... even went so far as to include his puns in this grave scene (V,1,120). Hamlet himself experiences a temporary lightening of mood from listening to the gravediggers' conversation. Their carefree treatment of death singing while digging graves, not to mention tossing skulls in the air) is a parallel to Hamlet's newfound attitude. After having committed himself to his cause in Act IV, he is no longer bothered by the paradox of good and evil, and (seemingly) is untroubled by his previous misgivings. Hamlet's musings on the equality of all men in death serve as a transition into the darker second half of the scene. His contemplations on dea ....