ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The gravedigger scene is important in Hamlet because it both represents comic-relief and tragedy. It is in this scene that Hamlet accepts his mortality and fate.

Detailed explanation-2: -The gravediggers provide comic relief with their humor and sarcasm to relieve the disgusting qualities of their tasks. Shakespeare often uses comical figures to relieve the seriousness of a scene as he does here with words and actions. The theme they express is that death makes all people equal.

Detailed explanation-3: -In Hamlet, Polonius acts as a comic relief by his dull and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and his negativity toward the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a comic relief by their senseless actions and naïve natures.

Detailed explanation-4: -In Hamlet, the majority of the comic relief is dark and depressing. The main character is obsessed with death and makes morbid jokes about old age, deception, and corpses. This side of the character is shown so that the reader can understand how much this disturbs the prince.