Original: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.
Modern: Oh no, poor Yorick! I knew him well, Horatio.

Original: A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.
Modern: He was a man with endless humor and wonderful imagination.

Original: He hath borne me on his back a thousand times.
Modern: He carried me on his back countless times.

Original: And now how abhorred in my imagination it is!
Modern: And now how disgusting this seems to my mind!

Original: My gorge rises at it.
Modern: It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Original: Here hung those lips that I have kiss’d I know not how oft.
Modern: Here were those lips that I kissed so many times I can’t count.

Original: Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs?
Modern: Where are your jokes now? Your playful dancing? Your songs?

Original: your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?
Modern: Your bursts of fun that used to make everyone at dinner laugh loudly?

Original: Not one now, to mock your own grinning?
Modern: Not even one joke left now to make fun of your own skull’s grin?

Original: Quite chap-fall’n?
Modern: Have you completely lost your sense of humor?

Original: Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come.
Modern: Now go to any woman’s bedroom and tell her that no matter how thick she puts on her makeup, she’ll end up looking like this skull.

Original: Make her laugh at that.
Modern: See if she finds that funny.

In Act V, Scene 1 of Hamlet, two gravediggers are preparing a grave in a churchyard, discussing whether Ophelia, who has drowned, deserves a Christian burial given the questionable circumstances of her death. Their conversation is interrupted when Hamlet and Horatio arrive, and Hamlet engages one of the gravediggers in wordplay about his profession. As the gravedigger works, he unearths old skulls, including one that he identifies as belonging to Yorick, the court jester from Hamlet’s childhood. Hamlet takes the skull and reflects on mortality and the inevitability of death, remembering how Yorick once carried him on his back and made him laugh.

The scene reaches its climax when a funeral procession arrives, led by King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Laertes. Hamlet realizes the funeral is for Ophelia when Laertes leaps into the grave, overcome with grief for his sister. Unable to contain himself, Hamlet emerges from hiding and jumps into the grave as well, declaring his love for Ophelia and challenging Laertes’ display of sorrow. The two men grapple in the grave until they are separated by the attendants. Claudius reminds Laertes of their earlier conversation, hinting at their plot against Hamlet, while Gertrude attributes Hamlet’s behavior to his madness. The scene concludes with the funeral procession departing and Hamlet explaining his actions to Horatio.

Hamlet tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father. The ghost reveals that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has now married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude and assumed the throne. Commanded by his father’s spirit to seek revenge, Hamlet struggles with doubt, melancholy, and the moral complexity of his task. To investigate the ghost’s claims and plan his revenge, he feigns madness, which creates tension throughout the Danish court.

As Hamlet deliberates, his erratic behavior affects everyone around him, particularly his love interest Ophelia, daughter of the king’s advisor Polonius. To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet stages a play mirroring his father’s murder, which confirms the king’s culpability. However, Hamlet’s actions become increasingly destructive—he accidentally kills Polonius while the old man spies on him, and his rejection of Ophelia contributes to her descent into genuine madness and eventual drowning.

The play reaches its climax when Ophelia’s brother Laertes returns to avenge his father’s death. Claudius manipulates Laertes into challenging Hamlet to a duel, secretly poisoning Laertes’s sword and preparing poisoned wine as backup. The final scene erupts in tragedy: during the duel, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the poisoned blade, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poisoned wine, and Hamlet finally kills Claudius. As Hamlet dies, he names Prince Fortinbras of Norway as Denmark’s next ruler, bringing the cycle of revenge and political instability to a close. The play ends with Fortinbras restoring order to the Danish court as bodies are carried off in a funeral march.