The deceased royal jester, whose remains Hamlet cradles and plays with after a pair of gravediggers exhume his skull. Hamlet recalls Yorick, in one of the play’s most famous lines, as “a fellow of infinite jest,” and yet the prince’s macabre handling of the remains of the jester of his youth reflects the play’s darker themes of poison, corruption, and death.
Yorick Quotes in Hamlet
The Hamlet quotes below are all either spoken by Yorick or refer to Yorick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 5, Scene 1
Quotes
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio—a fellow of infinite jest… Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?
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Yorick Quotes in Hamlet
The Hamlet quotes below are all either spoken by Yorick or refer to Yorick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 5, Scene 1
Quotes
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio—a fellow of infinite jest… Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?