Question

Read the passage from Act V of Hamlet.

Laertes: Must there no more be done?

First Priest: No more be done:
We should profane the service of the dead,
To sing a requiem, and such rest to her
As to peace-parted souls.

Laertes: Lay her i’ the earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling.

How do the themes in the passage interact?

The passage shows that death conquers everyone, but family bonds outlast even death.
The passage shows that when people eventually die, those around them must move on with their lives.
The passage shows that brotherly love, while strong, is fleeting, whereas death is permanent.
The passage shows that everyone dies eventually, and love is a pointless emotion that brings ruin.

Answer 1

The first statement is correct.

Explanation: the priest’s lines treat death and burial as inevitable and universal (“We should profane the service of the dead… As to peace-parted souls”), while Laertes’ speech insists on his continuing filial devotion—wishing violets from her flesh and calling her a “ministering angel.” That juxtaposes death’s finality with a brother’s love that transcends death. The other choices misread Laertes’ persistent grief (he does not urge people to “move on”), and do not match the passage’s sympathetic, not dismissive, treatment of love.