He turns to Horatio and tells him that he knew Yorick well as a child. This is where he says, ‘Alas, poor Yorick.’ One of the gravediggers points to one of the skulls and says that it’s been in the earth for twenty-three years, Hamlet asks who it was and they tell him it was the king’s jester, Yorick. The gravediggers talk jokingly about the people they once were. Hamlet and Horatio stop to chat to them and Hamlet shows an interest in the skulls that they have uncovered. Hamlet and his friend, Horatio, are walking through the cemetery where two men are digging her grave. In the meantime, his lover, Ophelia, has committed suicide. He’s been rescued by pirates, who invaded the ship, and is now home and ready to deal with the problem. He has survived a plot to have him murdered in England. ‘Alas poor Yorik’ meaning & analysisĪfter a long period of emotional upset and indecision about what to do with the knowledge that his uncle has murdered his father, Hamlet returns to Denmark from a voyage to London. Her paint an inch thick, to this favour she mustĬome make her laugh at that. Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let Now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? That were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one Gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know Of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hathīorne me on his back a thousand times and now, howĪbhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at ‘Alas poor Yorik’ monologue spoken by Hamlet, Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1:Īlas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
Read on for Hamlet’s full ‘Alas poor Yorick’ quote below, along with a modern English explanation and analysis. In fact, it’s one of the most quoted lines in all of Shakespeare – probably the most iconic image connected with Shakespeare in our culture is that of Hamlet holding a human skull, dressed in black, with the caption, ‘Alas, poor Yorick.’ ‘ Alas poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio’ spoken by Hamlet is one of the best known Hamlet quotes. Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order. Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15.