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“(she) that willfully seeks her own salvation”
Language
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 1-5

An explanation of the Gravedigger’s reference to “salvation” in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

[Enter two Gravediggers with spades and picks.]

First Gravedigger

Is she to be buried in Christian burial, that willfully seeks 
her own salvation?     

Second Gravedigger

I tell thee she is; therefore make her grave straight.
The crowner has sat on her, and finds it Christian
burial.

In this instance, salvation refers to the saving of the soul and entering into heaven. Describing someone as seeking their own salvation is a way of saying that they committed suicide. As discussed earlier, according to the religious beliefs in Shakespeare’s England, anyone who committed suicide had committed a mortal sin and was denied a Christian burial.

 

(Ophelia, John Everett Millais, c. 1851-1852)