Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

We should resist the temptation to treat the gravediggers and their clowning in Hamlet 5.1 as mere comic relief: They prepare audiences and readers to view the “churlish priest” more critically. GRAVEDIGGER  Is she to be buried in Christian burial, when she willfully seeks her own salvation? [1] (Shouldn’t all people seek their own salvation? “Willfully” suggests a parody of the Protestant idea that we are saved by “faith alone,” not by works. But by Gertrude's account, it is not at all clear that Ophelia committed suicide - it is a mystery - so why assume?)   OTHER  I tell thee she is. Therefore make her grave straight. The crowner hath sat on her and finds it Christian burial. GRAVEDIGGER  How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defense? [2][3] (The gravedigger mangles “The coroner’s inquest sat to consider her death,” which becomes “The crowner hath sat on her.” Funny but disturbing, to sit on the corpse of a drowned woman. The original spelling wa...

As the tale of Ophelia’s drowning is distorted in Hamlet , the funeral procession reaches the graveyard where the “churlish priest” claims that either Gertrude or Claudius had pressured the coroner’s inquest not to rule suicide. The priest is offended at the thought of burying a possible suicide on holy ground, and does only minimal rites required. This implies a dysfunctional Denmark, king, inquest, and priest, and implies a similarly dysfunctional England. 1. “GREAT COMMAND O’ERSWAYS THE ORDER” [1]: The priest claims either Gertrude or Claudius overruled the coroner’s inquest. Ideally, an impartial inquest should seek the truth. If it's a mystery (not enough evidence) it be better to reserve judgment, than to harshly judge a soul on whom God might be quite inclined to show mercy. For some reason the coroner's inquest was inclined to rule it a suicide (why?). Gertrude or Claudius made them change that, perhaps in compassion for Ophelia, or fearful of angering Laertes, or bot...