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"chop-fall'n"
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 169-180

An explanation of “chop-fall’n” in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet

Let me see. Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, 
a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He 
has bore me on his back a thousand times; and now
how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises
at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not
how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? 
Your songs? Your flashes of merriment that were wont
to set the table on a roar? No one now to mock your 
own grinning? Quite chop-fall'n? Now get you to my    
lady's chamber and tell her — let her paint an inch thick,
to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.
Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.

This description can be read in two ways:

  • Dejected
  • Literally, the skeleton’s cheeks have rotted away