Question

Read the passage from Act V of Hamlet.

Hamlet: Let me see.—[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; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning?

One purpose of Hamlet’s speech is to

develop the theme “death conquers all.”
question the theme “revenge is destructive.”
introduce the theme “truth is hard to discern.”
contradict the theme “curiosity is dangerous.”

Answer 1

Develop the theme “death conquers all.”

Hamlet’s meditation on Yorick contrasts the man’s former liveliness—“a fellow of infinite jest… your gambols… songs”—with the skull in his hand, stressing how death reduces everyone, regardless of wit or status. The speech is a reflection on mortality and the leveling power of death, not a comment on revenge, truth’s elusiveness, or a refutation of curiosity.