Dark Humor in Hamlet

December 4, 2002
Shakespeare Final Paper


Dark Humor in Hamlet

A distinguishing and frequently mystifying feature of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet is the presence of dark humor: constant wordplay, irony, riddles, clowning, and bawdy repartee. The language of Hamlet is cleverly and specifically designed in the guise of Shakespeare’s dark humor. In regards to all uses of comedy and wit, the language of this play is meant to be pleasing to the audience but not to the characters. This concept is essential in understanding what place comedy has in a tragedy such as Hamlet. Hamlet’s very use and style of language, especially the use of the pun, his dialogue with the minor character Polonius, and the realization of his destiny in graveyard scene reveal the comic relief that lies within this tragedy.
But why have any comic relief at all in a tragedy? One possible answer lies in the timelessness of the human condition, in the idea that people of all time pe...