RALPH:  As Act 5 opens, we take a break from the tense action at the court. Hamlet has landed back in Denmark and is proceeding with Horatio to Elsinore Castle for the inevitable showdown with Claudius. On the way, they pass a country churchyard where two gravediggers are at work.

SARAH:  This is one of the most well-known scenes in Shakespeare, famous both for its comic relief, as well as its meditation on death.

RALPH:  While talking to one of the gravediggers, the funeral procession for Ophelia arrives in the graveyard.

SARAH:  Laertes is crazed with grief and jumps into Ophelia’s grave to hold her once more; not to be outdone, Hamlet leaps into the grave as well, and the two men must be pulled off each other.