ACT V, 1: ENTER TWO CLOWNS
The fifth act begins with a dialogue between two grave-diggers. They are digging a grave for Ophelia as they speak. The grave-diggers are also referred to as clowns. Here the word clown refers to a rustic, to someone from the country. From the prejudiced viewpoint of the Londoner, folks from the country were often stereotyped as being foolish or ignorant. But the clowns in Hamlet are also included to provide comic relief, to provide humorous dialogue. And in this dialogue there is also a certain amount of social commentary or social criticism as well.
The social commentary begins with the very first line. In a Christian society, a person who committed suicide would not be buried on holy ground – that is, he or she could not be buried on church property. From the Christian perspective, suicide is the only unpardonable sin one can commit because, once a person is dead, he or she cannot ask God for forgiveness. Therefore, a person who commits suicide would go directly to hell without ever having a chance of going to heaven. Ophelia’s death by drowning would be viewed in Renaissance society as a suicide because, even though she was mad, Ophelia would be held responsible for her own safety. There was no other person or external force that caused her death.
Nevertheless, the clowns are digging the grave on Church property. As the second clown so wisely observes, if Ophelia “had not been a gentlewoman, she would have been buried” somewhere other than on church property (lines 2223). The clown, of course, is commenting on the problem of class distinctions. Ophelia belongs to the aristocratic class, and the aristocratic class usually received favors that the commoners did not. Aristocrats often could get away with breaking the laws of society and the laws of the church.
The two clowns also make fun of the legal system. According to English law, the act of a suicide actually has three parts: (1) the plan or thought to commit suicide, (2) the determination or resolution or willingness to go through with that plan, and (3) the actual performance of completion of that act. In other words, the point is that suicide is premeditated – it is planned out before the act is done. Ophelia might not be thought of as a suicide by this legal definition since her suicide was not planned and since she was not determined to commit that act.
The clown rephrases the English law incorrectly. He states that a suicide by drowning has “three branches: it is to act, to do, and to perform”
(11-12). All three words (act, do, and perform) mean the same thing. The clown’s verbal blunder reveals or suggests the commoners’ lack of comprehension or understanding of the law, which is usually written in a very complex jargon, in an unnecessarily complicated manner. And because of that complicated language, the poor commoner was usually unable to use the law to his advantage. He did not understand the law, and he could not afford to hire an attorney who did. And, so, the breaking of a law by a commoner would usually result in his imprisonment. But if an aristocrat broke the same law, that aristocrat could often find a way to prevent punishment.