Blooms Literary Themes - THE TRICKSTER.pdf - ymerleksi - home

haMleT
(William shakespeare)
,.
“The Grave Diggers in ‘Hamlet’”
by Frederick Warde, in The Fools of Shakespeare:
An Interpretation of their Wit and Wisdom (1915)
Introduction
In this selection from The Fools of Shakespeare: An Interpretation
of Their Wit, Wisdom and Personalities, Frederick
Warde explicates one of the comic scenes in this famous
tragedy—the passage in which the two men, who, in digging
Ophelia’s grave, engage in playful conversation, bantering
with each other and Hamlet. For Warde, the two are the sort
of tricksters one might find in everyday life, artful representations
fashioned by Shakespeare, the ultimate artisan, who
captures the most poignant sentiment, infuses it with wit,
and gives performers endless possibilities for play. Thus,
Warde concludes by regaling us with antecdotes about
actors as tricksters who elicit laughter from audiences and
one another.
f
“Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he sings at
grave-making?”
Warde, Frederick. “The Grave Diggers in ‘Hamlet.’” The Fools of Shakespeare: An
Interpretation of their Wit and Wisdom. 1915. Los Angeles, Calif: Times-Mirror
Press, 1923. 153–173.
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