Act 5

Hamlet
Act 5
Summary
• Hamlet meets Horatio in the graveyard, along with a gravedigger. They
discuss the realities of life and death. Ophelia’s funeral procession arrives at
the graveyard. Hamlet confronts Laertes, who has taken his father’s place at
the court. Laertes wants to avenge his father’s death.
• Hamlet and Laertes agree to duel. Claudius conspires with Laertes to kill
Hamlet. They plan that Hamlet will die either on a poisoned wine. The plans
go wrong, when Gertrude unwittingly drinks from the poisoned cup and
dies. During the scuffle, Laertes is scratched by his own poisoned sword,
with which he wounds Hamlet as well. Laertes dies.
• Shortly, after forcing Claudius to drink the poisoned wine, Hamlet dies,
leaving his friend Horatio to tell the story to Fortinbras, who is proclaimed
King, based on an ancient claim to the Danish throne.
Analysis
• Act 5 is the resolution to all of the chaos and disorder in Denmark. The
extent of Claudius’s deception is revealed to all and the deaths of the fathers
are finally avenged. This act shows how life is snuffed out by death, as the
play ends with a stage littered by corpses. Good triumphs over evil, poetic
justice prevails and order is restored.
• Themes prevalent here are: death, revenge and justice.
Act 5 Scene 1
Summary of the interaction between Hamlet and the grave-diggers.
1. Ophelia is to have a Christian burial although the common people believe
she committed suicide and as a result, should not be buried in consecrated
ground.
2. The by-play and witty exchanges provide relief before the climax of the
play. However, the lightness sharpens our sense of imminent tragedy. Death is
shown to be an everyday that reduces human being to the same level.
3. Hamlet is debating the very meaning of life and death. No people –great or
ordinary – are exempt from death despite their high or low stations in life.
Time brings change, and we must come terms with death’s inevitability.
4. Hamlet’s own bones ache in sympathy at the thought that people’s bones
cost so little to raise that they can end up by being used as pieces of wood in a
game. He talks wittily and calmly about death, a subject that once aroused in
him feelings of revulsion and disgust at the human condition. The irony is that
the audience, unlike Hamlet is aware that his death is about to play out.
5. Hamlet fondly remembers the past when he used to play with Yorick,
whose death leads him to speculate that men such as Alexander the Great
and Julius Caesar suffered similar fates. Death is an equalising force. It
reduces all, whether great or small, to dust.
The confrontation with Laertes
• Hamlet’s behaviour at the graveside loses him the advantage of a sudden
return to Denmark. He acts extremely in an embarrassing public incident
that reinforces the general belief that he is mad.
• However, he is somewhat justified. Laertes’s ranting and parade of grief
offends Hamlet, who detests insincerity.
• Hamlet’s love for Ophelia, no longer disguised by his condemnation of all
women as untrustworthy, is clearly shown.
Act 5 Scene 2:
The execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
• It is ironic that Hamlet will allow his ex-friends no time to confess their sins.
• Providence assisted him even in the authenticity of the letters.
• He feels no guilt about their deaths, as they were meddlers, allying
themselves to the king.
• He indicates his belief that the throne was stolen from him.
• Hamlet’s mission is to purge the State of Corruption. He now takes on the
role of an agent of justice.
• Hamlet regrets his behaviour towards Laertes. He sees the mirror image of
his own cause in Laertes’s desire for revenge.
• Laertes’s melodramatic ranting at the graveside upsets him.
Osric’s role
• Osric is a fop – a person who is vain and completely concerned with how he
looks and speaks. His aim is to impress people. He is welcomed at court
because he is rich and has extensive lands. He is valued for the wrong things.
• He is too foolish to realise that Hamlet baits him.
• Osric cannot speak plainly.
• Osric praises Laertes excessively in order to make Hamlet jealous. He is
unsuccessful, but he does get Hamlet to agree to the duel.
Hamlet’s readiness
• Horatio thinks that Hamlet will lose, but Hamlet does not agree as he has
been practising, and the odds favour him. Hamlet admits deep misgivings.
Hamlet would be very naïve to think that the duel has not some sinister
purpose. Horatio offers to postpone the match but Hamlet refuses, then
reveals his new-found certainty and balance of mind.
The challenge
1. The court enters.
2. Laertes inspects the rapiers.
3. Hamlet and Laertes duel. Hamlet scores two hits. Gertrude drinks a toast.
4. Laertes lunges at Hamlet.
5. The queen dies, Hamlet is wounded, and Laertes admits his guilt.
6. Hamlet stabs and poisons Claudius.
7. Claudius dies, followed by Laertes
Hamlet’s death
• He freely forgives Laertes.
• He pleads with Horatio to tell the truth to the court.
• Despite being under the destructive effect of the poison, Hamlet summons
up enough energy to stop Horatio from committing suicide.
• Hamlet is now king and has the right to nominate Fortinbras as his
successor thus restoring the Chain of Being.
The arrival of Fortinbras
• The arrival of Fortinbras restores order to Denmark after the wild violence
that led to a stage strewn with bodies. The illness in Denmark has been
purged. Hamlet has fulfilled his father’s command but he has paid the
rashness. Hamlet, treated like a soldier who has performed his job, is
promised a military funeral. The sound of cannon shots brings the play full
circle, in the time of Claudius, those shots had signalled decadence and
corruption.

Act 5

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Hamlet

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