Death Makes People Equal
Shakespeare uses the skull as a symbol to explore the idea that everyone is equal when they die. Even people who are special are like normal people in the end. Hamlet asks Horatio, if he thinks Alexander the Great “looked like this in the earth” (Shakespeare 272). He asks this because Alexander the Great died and “returned to dust” (272). It shows that all humans are equal in the end since Hamlet says that Alexander the Great changed to dust and that this “dust is earth” (272). Ephemeral things like power, fame, and money become worthless after dying since Alexander the Great “looked like” (272) Yorick when he died, which means that successful or unsuccessful, humans are the same in the end. While living, accomplishments are meaningful but when time passes, we return to dust and the fulfillments of the physical world become valueless. In addition, women “paint” their faces “an inch thick” in order to make themselves beautiful (271). Make-up for women can cover up their physical appearance for them while they are living but when they return to nature through death, nature takes control of them and makes them the way they are supposed to be; just their bones are left and they become “just the same” like everyone else (271). In conclusion, Hamlet explores the idea that death is the true equalizer because once we die everyone returns to dust and becomes a part of nature negating the physical aspects of human experience.