No Fear Shakespeare – Hamlet (by SparkNotes)
Original Text
are asked this question next, say “A grave-maker.”
The houses that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get
thee in. Fetch me a stoup of liquor.
Exit OTHER
(digs and sings)
In youth when I did love, did love,
Methought it was very sweet
To contract–o–the time, for–a–my behove,
Oh, methought, there–a–was nothing–a–meet.
HAMLET
Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings
at grave- making.
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 4
HORATIO
60 Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
HAMLET
'Tis e'en so. The hand of little employment hath the
daintier sense.
GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
But age with his stealing steps
Hath clawed me in his clutch,
And hath shipped me into the land
As if I had never been such.
(throws up a skull)
HAMLET
That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once.
How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were
Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! It might be
the pate of a politician, which this ass now
o'erreaches, one that would circumvent God, might it
not?
HORATIO
70 It might, my lord.
HAMLET
Or of a courtier, which could say, “Good morrow,
sweet lord!” “How dost thou, good lord?” This might
be my Lord Such-a-one that praised my Lord Such-a-
one’s horse when he meant to beg it, might it not?
HORATIO
75 Ay, my lord.
HAMLET
Why, e'en so. And now my Lady Worm’s, chapless
and knocked about the mazard with a sexton’s
spade. Here’s fine revolution, an we had the trick to
see ’t. Did these bones cost no more the breeding but
to play at loggets with them? Mine ache to think on ’t.
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Modern Text
someone asks you this riddle, say “a
gravedigger.” The houses he makes last till
Judgment Day. Now go and get me some booze.
The OTHER GRAVEDIGGER exits.
(the GRAVEDIGGER digs and sings)
In my youth I loved, I loved,
And I though it was very sweet
To set—ohh—the date for—ahh—my duty
Oh, I thought it—ahh—was not right.
HAMLET
Doesn’t this guy realize what he’s doing? He’s
singing while digging a grave.
HORATIO
He’s gotten so used to graves that they don’t
bother him anymore.
HAMLET
Yes, exactly. Only people who don’t have to work
can afford to be sensitive.
GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
But old age has sneaked up on me
And grabbed me in his claws,
And has shipped me into the ground
As if I’d never been like that.
(he throws up a skull)
HAMLET
That skull had a tongue in it once and could sing.
That jackass is throwing it around as if it
belonged to Cain, who did the first murder! It
might be the skull of a politician once capable of
talking his way around God, right? And now this
idiot is pulling rank on him.
HORATIO
Indeed, my lord.
HAMLET
Or a courtier, who could say things like, “Good
night, my sweet lord! How are you doing, good
lord?” This might be the skull of Lord So-and-So,
who praised Lord Such-and-Such’s horse when
he wanted to borrow it, right?
HORATIO
Yes, my lord.
HAMLET
Exactly. And now it’s the property of Lady Worm,
its lower jaw knocked off and thwacked on the
noggin with a shovel. That’s quite a reversal of
fortune, isn’t it, if we could only see it? Are these
bones worth nothing more than bowling pins
now? It makes my bones ache to think about it.
No Fear Shakespeare – Hamlet (by SparkNotes)
Original Text
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 5
GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
A pickax and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet,
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
(throws up another skull)
HAMLET
There’s another. Why may not that be the skull of a
lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities,
his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he
suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the
sconce with a dirty shovel and will not tell him of his
action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in ’s
time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his
recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his
recoveries. Is this the fine of his fines and the
recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full
of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of
his purchases, and double ones too, than the length
and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very
conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box,
and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?
HORATIO
Not a jot more, my lord.
HAMLET
Is not parchment made of sheepskins?
HORATIO
Ay, my lord, and of calfskins too.
HAMLET
100 They are sheep and calves which seek out
assurance in that.
I will speak to this fellow.—Whose grave’s this,
sirrah?
GRAVEDIGGER
Mine, sir.
(sings)
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 6
Oh, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
HAMLET
I think it be thine, indeed, for thou liest in ’t.
GRAVEDIGGER
You lie out on ’t, sir, and therefore it is not yours. For
my part, I do not lie in ’t, and yet it is mine.
HAMLET
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Modern Text
GRAVEDIGGER
(sings)
A pickax and a shovel, a shovel,
And a sheet for a funeral shroud,
Oh, a pit of dirt is what we need
For a guest like this one here.
(he throws up another skull)
HAMLET
There’s another. Could that be a lawyer’s skull?
Where’s all his razzle-dazzle legal jargon now?
Why does he allow this idiot to knock him on the
head with a dirty shovel, instead of suing him for
assault and battery? Maybe this guy was once a
great landowner, with his deeds and contracts,
his tax shelters and his annuities. Is it part of his
deed of ownership to have his skull filled up with
dirt? Does he only get to keep as much land as a
set of contracts would cover if you spread them
out on the ground? The deeds to his properties
would barely fit in this coffin—and the coffin’s all
the property he gets to keep?
HORATIO
No more than that, my lord.
HAMLET
Isn’t the parchment of a legal document made of
sheepskin?
HORATIO
Yes, my lord, and calfskin too.
HAMLET
Anyone who puts his trust in such documents is
a sheep or a calf. I’ll talk to this guy.—Excuse
me, sir, whose grave is this?
GRAVEDIGGER
It’s mine, sir.
(sings)
Oh, a pit of dirt is what we need
For a guest like this one here.
HAMLET
I think it really must be yours, since you’re the
one lying in it.
GRAVEDIGGER
And you’re lying outside of it, so it’s not yours. As
for me, I’m not lying to you in it—it’s really mine.
HAMLET
No Fear Shakespeare – Hamlet (by SparkNotes) -100-
Original Text Modern Text

Thou dost lie in ’t, to be in ’t and say it is thine. 'Tis But you are lying in it, being in it and saying it’s
for the dead, not for the quick. Therefore thou liest. yours. It’s for the dead, not the living. So you’re
lying.
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
'Tis a quick lie, sir. 'Twill away gain from me to you. That’s a lively lie, sir—it jumps so fast from me to
you.
HAMLET HAMLET
110 What man dost thou dig it for? What man are you digging it for?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
For no man, sir. For no man, sir.
HAMLET HAMLET
What woman, then? What woman, then?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
For none, neither. For no woman, either.
HAMLET HAMLET
Who is to be buried in ’t? Who’s to be buried in it?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
115 One that was a woman, sir, but, rest her soul, she’s One who used to be a woman but—bless her
dead. soul—is dead now.
HAMLET HAMLET
How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the How literal this guy is! We have to speak
card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, precisely, or he’ll get the better of us with his
Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of it. wordplay. Lord, Horatio, I’ve been noticing this
The age is grown so picked that the toe of the for a few years now. The peasants have become
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he so clever and witty that they’re nipping at the
galls his kibe.—How long hast thou been a grave- heels of noblemen.—How long have you been a
maker? gravedigger?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
Of all the days i' the year, I came to ’t that day that Of all the days in the year, I started the day that
our last the late King Hamlet defeated Fortinbras.
King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.

Act 5, Scene 1, Page 7

HAMLET HAMLET
How long is that since? How long ago was that?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was You don’t know that? Any fool could tell you, it
the very day that young Hamlet was born, he that is was the day that young Hamlet was born—the
mad and sent into England. one who went crazy and got sent off to England.
HAMLET HAMLET
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England? Why was he sent to England?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
Why, because he was mad. He shall recover his wits Because he was crazy. He’ll recover his sanity
there, or, if he do not, it’s no great matter there. there. Or if he doesn’t, it won’t matter in England.
HAMLET HAMLET
Why? Why not?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
'Twill not be seen in him there. There the men are as Because nobody will notice he’s crazy. Everyone
mad as he. there is as crazy as he is.
HAMLET HAMLET
How came he mad? How did he go crazy?
No Fear Shakespeare – Hamlet (by SparkNotes) -101-
Original Text Modern Text
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
135 Very strangely, they say. In a strange way, they say.
HAMLET HAMLET
How “strangely”? What do you mean, “in a strange way”?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
Faith, e'en with losing his wits. By losing his mind.
HAMLET HAMLET
Upon what ground? On what grounds?
GRAVEDIGGER GRAVEDIGGER
Why, here in Denmark. I have been sexton here, Right here in Denmark. I’ve been the church
man and boy, thirty years. warden here for thirty years, since childhood.
HAMLET HAMLET
How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot? How long will a man lie in his grave before he
starts to rot?

Act 5, Scene 1, Page 8

GRAVEDIGGER
Faith, if he be not rotten before he die—as we have
many pocky corses nowadays that will scarce hold
the laying in— he will last you some eight year or
nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.
HAMLET
Why he more than another?
GRAVEDIGGER
Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade that he
will keep out water a great while, and your water is a
sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.(indicates
a skull) Here’s a skull now. This skull has lain in the
earth three-and-twenty years.
HAMLET
Whose was it?
GRAVEDIGGER
A whoreson mad fellow’s it was. Whose do you think
it was?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not.
GRAVEDIGGER
155 A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! He poured a
flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull,
sir, was Yorick’s skull, the king’s jester.
HAMLET
This?
GRAVEDIGGER
E'en that.
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
GRAVEDIGGER
Well, if he’s not rotten before he dies (and there
are a lot of people now who are so rotten they
start falling to pieces even before you put them in
the coffin), he’ll last eight or nine years. A
leathermaker will last nine years.
HAMLET
Why does he last longer?
GRAVEDIGGER
Because his hide is so leathery from his trade
that he keeps the water off him a long time, and
water is what makes your goddamn body rot
more than anything. Here’s a skull that’s been
here twenty-three years.
HAMLET
Whose was it?
GRAVEDIGGER
A crazy bastard. Who do you think?
HAMLET
I really don’t know.
GRAVEDIGGER
Damn that crazy madman! He poured a pitcher
of white wine on my head once. This is the skull
of Yorick, the king’s jester.
HAMLET
This one?
GRAVEDIGGER
Yes, that one.
HAMLET
Let me see. (he takes the skull) Oh, poor Yorick!
I used to know him, Horatio—a very funny guy,
and with an excellent imagination. He carried me
on his back a thousand times, and now—how
terrible—this is him. It makes my stomach turn. I
No Fear Shakespeare – Hamlet (by SparkNotes)
Original Text
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? Quite chapfallen? Now get you to my
lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch
thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at
that.—Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 9
HORATIO
What’s that, my lord?
HAMLET
Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i' th'
earth?
HORATIO
175 E'en so.
HAMLET
And smelt so? Pah! (puts down the skull)
HORATIO
E'en so, my lord.
HAMLET
To what base uses we may return, Horatio. Why
may not imagination trace the noble dust of
Alexander till he find it stopping a bunghole?
HORATIO
'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.
HAMLET
No, faith, not a jot. But to follow him thither with
modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus:
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander
190 returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make
loam—and why of that loam, whereto he was
converted, might they not stop a beer barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall t' expel the winter’s flaw!
But soft, but soft a while.
Enter King CLAUDIUS,
Queen GERTRUDE,LAERTES, and a coffin, with
a PRIEST and other lords attendant.
Here comes the king,
The queen, the courtiers—who is this they follow,
And with such maimèd rites? This doth betoken
195 The corse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo its own life. 'Twas of some estate.
Couch we a while and mark.
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Modern Text
don’t know how many times I kissed the lips that
used to be right here. Where are your jokes
now? Your pranks? Your songs?
Your flashes of wit that used to set the whole
table laughing? You don’t make anybody smile
now. Are you sad about that? You need to go to
my lady’s room and tell her that no matter how
much makeup she slathers on, she’ll end up just
like you some day. That’ll make her laugh.
Horatio, tell me something.
HORATIO
What’s that, my lord?
HAMLET
Do you think Alexander the Great looked like this
when he was buried?
HORATIO
Exactly like that.
HAMLET
And smelled like that, too? Whew! (he puts down
the skull)
HORATIO
Just as bad, my lord.
HAMLET
How low we can fall, Horatio. Isn’t it possible to
imagine that the noble ashes of Alexander the
Great could end up plugging a hole in a barrel?
HORATIO
If you thought that you’d be thinking too much.
HAMLET
No, not at all. Just follow the logic: Alexander
died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returned
to dust, the dust is dirt, and dirt makes mud we
use to stop up holes. So why can’t someone plug
a beer barrel with the dirt that used to be
Alexander? The great emperor Caesar, dead
and turned to clay, might plug up a hole to keep
the wind away. Oh, to think that the same body
that once ruled the world could now patch up a
wall! But quiet, be quiet a minute.
CLAUDIUS enters with GERTRUDE, LAERTES,
and a coffin, with a PRIEST and other lords
attendant.
Here comes the king, the queen, and the
noblemen of court. Who are they following? And
with such a plain and scrawny ceremony? It
means the corpse they’re following took its own
life. Must have been from a wealthy family. Let’s
stay and watch a while.