Yorick (Hamlet)

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Yorick was the deceased court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on the vile effects of death:

Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne 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? (Hamlet, V.i)

The contrast between Yorick as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" and his grim remains is a variation on the theme of earthly vanity (cf Vanitas): death being unavoidable, the things of this life are inconsequential. Though this theme of Memento mori ('Remember you shall die') is common in 16th and 17th century painting (see especially Mary Magdalene), Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea.

The deceased jester Yorick is thought by some to be based on the the Elizabethan comedian Richard Tarleton who was a star performer of the pre-Shakespearian stage.