Essay Example on Hamlet begins to feel emotion at death

Hamlet begins to feel emotion at death when he stumbles upon Yorick s skull Hamlet s relationship with his childhood jester is oddly like Meursault s relationship with his mother a bit transactional for a caretaker child partnership yet still meaningful When Horatio and Hamlet find Yorick while observing Ophelia s gravesit Hamlet famously says Alas poor Yorick I knew him Horatio a fellow of infinite jest of most excellent fancy He hath bore me on his back a thousand times and now how abhorred in my imagination it is Shakespeare 5 1 190 194 Hamlet finds something to gain in Yorick s death even if it is just sympathy points from Horatio This remains a step forward from his indifference towards Polonius Meursault s attitude towards Maman s death is partially involved in a similar manner He tells his boss Sorry sir but it s not my fault you know Camus 4 He finds the funeral to be the most perfunctory and normal event he could attend but many others are perturbed by his nonchalance He does not notice anything is off until he is in prison when he notices Asked to explain what he meant by calmness the warden lowered his eyes and stared at his shoes for a moment Then he explained that I hadn t wanted to see Mother s body or shed a single tear and that I d left immediately when the funeral ended without lingering at her grave 56 Just as Hamlet uses Yorick s death to curry favor with Horatio Meursault fakes his way through Maman s funeral Yet this causes emotion in Hamlet but not Meursault perhaps because Meursault is so adept at the fakery while Hamlet adopts his antic disposition merely a month prior 

That is the position that the dog holds at the funeral in A Burial He looks out for the attendees while maintaining his own interest in the scene looking over the grave hole at the coffin The coffin could easily hold a Meursault A Burial is notable for its portrayal of funeral goers as disinterested first and foremost This would go against Meursault s wishes as he remarks For all to be accomplished for me to feel less lonely all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration Camus 76 Yet he does not approach his own death with the same furor as he expects others to see it notably he lashes out at the chaplain for trying to incite emotion and regret It would be karmic justice for Meursault to get his desired execution funeral crowd but have them be more excited about their dinner plans than the spectacle before them The overwhelming disregard for grief makes it difficult to analyze many of the deaths in Hamlet and 

The Stranger Yet one death is discussed with detail and visceral emotion Ophelia s passing in Act IV of Hamlet Gertrude lavishes anyone who will listen about the tragic nature of Ophelia s drowning and her speech invokes emotion more so than any death where Hamlet is in the room Perhaps this is Shakespeare s nod to his underlying respect and religiosity about death Courbet has the same respect A Burial is a massive painting with truly larger than life figures Even as they approach the subject of passing differently with the oddest of characters Shakespeare Camus and Courbet give it some reverence Death gives color to Hamlet and Meurdault and deepens their characters by informing the reader of their range of emotions With each passing we see a bit of self interest a bit of attention seeking and a healthy dose of indifference The ends of the spectrum of human nature become clearer how does a truly unemotional person understand the world How does a wildly emotional person compartmentalize his emotions to seek a singular goal Meursault Hamlet and A Burial lead us to some conclusion Together these works of art synthesize death a little bit more and allow us to figure out a smidgen extra about the mystery of death