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Saturnalian Sacrifice: Comic-Tragic Blending in Hamlet

Saturnalian Sacrifice: Comic-Tragic Blending in Hamlet The image of Ophelia's grave dominates the final movement of Denmark's tragedy. Enlivened by the jests of gravemakers, the smell of skulls, and the grappling of courtiers, the grave beckons the living to experience its terrors and prepare for death. As in the Dance of Death, the grave draws opposites to a disconsonant encounter. Peasant and gentleman (the gravemakers and Hamlet), philosopher and fool (Hamlet and the gravemakers, Horatio and Hamlet), lover and sweetheart (Hamlet and Ophelia), priest and courtier (Doctor of Divinity and Laertes), and victim and culprit (Hamlet and Claudius, Claudius and Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes, Laertes and Hamlet, Laertes and the King, Ophelia and Hamlet)-all clash and then submerge under the weight of the Leveler Death. The past and the present also collapse as Ophelia joins the ranks of the dead. She, like the ancient sinner Adam, must now suffer the indignity of the gravediggers' jests. Time fuses, and so too do the tragic and comic patterns that operate in time. While the gravedigger's abuse of decorum and his logical aberrations point to death's disruption of order, his gaiety and foolishness suggest an unquenchable life-force that surges even in the face of tragedy. The grave http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Explorations in Renaissance Culture Brill

Saturnalian Sacrifice: Comic-Tragic Blending in Hamlet

Cox, Catherine I.
Explorations in Renaissance Culture , Volume 12 (1): 87 – Dec 2, 1986
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 1986 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0098-2474
eISSN
2352-6963
DOI
10.1163/23526963-90000088
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The image of Ophelia's grave dominates the final movement of Denmark's tragedy. Enlivened by the jests of gravemakers, the smell of skulls, and the grappling of courtiers, the grave beckons the living to experience its terrors and prepare for death. As in the Dance of Death, the grave draws opposites to a disconsonant encounter. Peasant and gentleman (the gravemakers and Hamlet), philosopher and fool (Hamlet and the gravemakers, Horatio and Hamlet), lover and sweetheart (Hamlet and Ophelia), priest and courtier (Doctor of Divinity and Laertes), and victim and culprit (Hamlet and Claudius, Claudius and Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes, Laertes and Hamlet, Laertes and the King, Ophelia and Hamlet)-all clash and then submerge under the weight of the Leveler Death. The past and the present also collapse as Ophelia joins the ranks of the dead. She, like the ancient sinner Adam, must now suffer the indignity of the gravediggers' jests. Time fuses, and so too do the tragic and comic patterns that operate in time. While the gravedigger's abuse of decorum and his logical aberrations point to death's disruption of order, his gaiety and foolishness suggest an unquenchable life-force that surges even in the face of tragedy. The grave

Journal

Explorations in Renaissance Culture – Brill

Published: Dec 2, 1986

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