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Shakespeare Connected - Not to Be: Death in the Collection

Terry Alldred, F R Benson as Hamlet

‘Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft’ (Hamlet, 5.5.164-165)

Hamlet, both as a character and as a play, has become synonymous with images of death. Yorick’s skull is probably the most notable example of memento mori in all of Shakespeare’s plays, and serves to remind Hamlet of how close he is to the grave. This pen and ink drawing by ‘Nym’ (pseudonym of Terry Alldred) immediately contextualises the character of Hamlet through his holding Yorick’s skull.

SBT 2015-7/1

 

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