Question

by william shakespeare
as you read, take notes to record your ideas about the themes of the play. highlight evidence in the text that helps you identify those themes.
image: hamlet holding a skull, conversing with a gravedigger
while conversing with a gravedigger, hamlet ponders death.
act v. scene i.
in this part of the play, two gravediggers talk about whether ophelia drowned herself and whether she should be given a religious burial.
which theme is best supported by the passage?

• death conquers everyone in the end.
• death keeps the world in awe.
• death is an insignificant force.
• death is a beginning, not an ending.

Explanation:

In Hamlet's Act V, Scene i, the graveyard scene (with Hamlet pondering death while interacting with a gravedigger) and the context of Ophelia's death and burial emphasize that death is inevitable for all. The other options: "Death keeps the world in awe" lacks textual support here; "Death is an insignificant force" contradicts the weight of death in the play; "Death is a beginning, not an ending" is not the primary theme of this scene (which focuses on death's universality and finality). So the theme "Death conquers everyone in the end" is best supported.

Answer:

Death conquers everyone in the end.