Summary Of Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1

Act 5 scene 1 begins with two gravediggers digging a grave for the late Ophelia while carrying a discussion about the rumor of her suicide. They state that her burial would not proceed normally had the King not provided for it. As one of the gravediggers leave, Hamlet enters along with Horatio and Hamlet is startled at how lightly the gravedigger takes his job. Hamlet and the gravedigger discuss his depressing job and as the gravedigger begins to throw skulls out of the grave, he explains how bodies decay. As an example, he takes a skull that has been there for 23 years, shows it to Hamlet, and tells hamlet who it belonged to (Yorick). Hamlet is surprised by this because he had known Yorick from when he was a child; Yorick was the king’s jester. Suddenly, Hamlet’s train of thought is interrupted by Ophelia’s funeral …show more content…
Although Laertes takes Hamlet’s request as an apology, he states that he will not be satisfied until their duel is done. During the fight, Osric acts as the referee and surprisingly, Hamlet wins the first point. To congratulate him, the king offers him a drink in which he dropped a poisoined pearl prior to having offered it. Hamlet refuses the drink and the battle continues. When Hamlet has won the secon point, Gertrude decides to toast to him and she drinks from the poisoned drink which slowly kills her. Laertes decides to stab Hamlet with a poisoned sword while Hamlet is unguarded and they end up getting into a fight. Somehow, Hamlet has managed to reposses Laertes’ poisoned sword and once Gertrude has died, he asks Laertes to confess what he had done. At this point, Laertes confesses that he had created a plan along with Claudius to dip the blades of the swords in poison so that once Hamlet is stabbed, he would die shortly