For Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act Five, scene one, summarize the action of this scene.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act Five,
scene one, Hamlet has returned from England where Claudius attempted to have him
executed. Hamlet and Horatio speak to the grave diggers ("clowns") in the cemetery who
are hardened to death, Hamlet believes, because they are exposed to it all the time.
(This echoes a line in Shakespeare's Macbeth, where Macbeth
also believes that exposure to death and murder make it easier for
one to become hardened to it.)

One gravedigger goes to get
the workers a drink, and Hamlet and Horatio make it a game, assigning lives to the
various skulls that lie about. The gravedigger (not aware of who he speaks to) notes
that Hamlet has been sent to England because he is mad, though one would hardly be able
to tell the difference since everyone in England is crazy. (This
would have incited a rousing laugh from the Elizabethan audience watching the play. This
scene is also the only comic relief in the
play.)

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FIRST
CLOWN:

Why, because a was mad. A' shall
recover his wits

there; or, if a do not, 'tis no great
matter there…

'Twill not he seen in him there. There the
men are

as mad as he.
(150)

The worker goes on to
say that he has been working for Hamlet's family since Old Hamlet defeated Old
Fortinbras, even from the day that Hamlet was born. He then gives Hamlet the skull of
Yorick, who was the court jester when Hamlet was a child. Hamlet recalls wonderful
childhood moments when he would spend time with Yorick, even riding on his back. Here is
a glimpse of happier times in Hamlet's life.

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HAMLET:

[Takes
the skull.]

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew
him,

Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent
fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times.
(176-178)

As Hamlet and
Horatio watch, a procession moves into the graveyard for a burial: included are the
King, the Queen, Laertes and a priest, and other lords. The priest is telling Laertes
that since there is some question of how "she died," Ophelia will not be buried in holy
ground ("maimed rites"). Laertes is furious. The Queen laments that she had hoped to see
Hamlet marry Ophelia, throwing flowers on her bridal bed, not at her
funeral.

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QUEEN:

Sweets
to the sweet! Farewell.

I hoped thou shouldst have been my
Hamlet's wife; (240)

I thought thy bride-bed to have
deck'd, sweet maid,

And not have strew'd thy
grave.

Laertes jumps into the
grave to hug Ophelia one last time, but Hamlet appears and he, too,
jumps in the grave. Hamlet declares that he loved her so much more
than Laertes ever could.

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HAMLET:

I
loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers (270)

Could not,
with all their quantity of love,

Make up my sum. What wilt
thou do for her?

The men
begin to fight, Laertes believing Hamlet is responsible not only for his father's death,
but also for the insanity and subsequent death of
Ophelia.

The men are separated, and Hamlet is led away by
Horatio. The King and Queen explain to Laertes that this is a sign of Hamlet's madness.
To the side, Claudius reminds Laertes to be patient: he will have his revenge if he will
only stick to the details of the plot that are hatching against
Hamlet.

This is the first instance since Old Hamlet's death
that Hamlet is dealt a heavy blow in losing Ophelia. We can see that though he doubted
her because of her seeming alliance with her father and the King to get information from
Hamlet, that despite his harsh words and behavior towards her, he still loved
her.