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Yorick

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(Redirected from Yorick (Hamlet))
For other uses, see Yorick (disambiguation).

Yorick
Hamlet character
An oil painting on canvas depicting Prince Hamlet and Horatio walking on a path next to a hill. To the viewer's left is a hole in the ground. On a pile of dirt next to the hole sits one gravedigger, and another gravedigger stands within the hole. He is holding out a human skull with an extended arm towards Prince Hamlet.
Yorick's skull in the 'gravedigger scene' (5.1), depicted by Eugène Delacroix
Created byWilliam Shakespeare
Portrayed by

Yorick is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the dead court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a reminiscence by Prince Hamlet of the man, who apparently played a role during Hamlet's upbringing:

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? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? (Hamlet, V.i)

It is suggested that Shakespeare may have intended his audience to connect Yorick with the Elizabethan comedian Richard Tarlton, a celebrated performer of the pre-Shakespearean stage, who had died in 1588.[1][2]

Name

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The name Yorick has been interpreted as an attempt to render a Scandinavian forename: usually either Eric or Jørg, a form of the name George.[3] The name Rorik has also been suggested, as Saxo Grammaticus wrote that this was the grandfather of Amleth, who served as the inspiration for Hamlet.[4] Alternative suggestions include the ideas that it may be derived from the Old Norse name of the city of York (Jórvík),[5] or that it is a near-anagram of the Greek word Kyrios and thus a reference to the Catholic martyr Edmund Campion.[6]

Portrayals

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Within a garden sits a bronze statue of Prince Hamlet. He has his right hand on his face as he looks towards a skull that he holds in his left hand. His expression is melancholic.
A bronze statue of Prince Hamlet contemplating Yorick's skull can be found in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The earliest known printed image of Hamlet holding Yorick's skull is a 1773 engraving by John Hall after a design by Edward Edwards in Bell's edition of Shakespeare's plays.[7] The image of Hamlet holding Yorick's skull has become a popular trope in media, becoming a metonymic symbol for acting and theatre as a whole.[8] A bronze statue depicting Hamlet with the skull of Yorick is located in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth town of William Shakespeare, and skull imagery is commonly used in souvenirs and artwork throughout the town.[8] In theatrical productions of Hamlet, Yorick is typically portrayed with a fake skull. Skulls of Yorick have been made from materials such as wood, plaster, papier-mâché, fibreglass, and plastic. However, real human skulls have also been used for the role.[2]

David Tennant holds a human cranium in his left hand at eye level and stares intensely at it.
David Tennant used the cranium of pianist André Tchaikowsky for Yorick's skull in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production.

Pianist André Tchaikowsky donated his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical productions, hoping that it would be used as the skull of Yorick. Tchaikowsky died in 1982. His skull was used during rehearsals for a 1989 RSC production of Hamlet starring Mark Rylance, but the company eventually decided to use a replica skull in the performance.[9] In 2008, Tchaikowsky's skull was used by David Tennant in an RSC production of Hamlet at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.[10] It was later announced that the skull had been replaced, after it became apparent that news of the skull distracted the audience too much from the play.[11] This was untrue, however, and the skull was used as a prop throughout the run of the production after its move to London's West End.[12]

Multiple other individuals have bequeathed their skulls to be used to represent Yorick in productions of Hamlet. Notable examples include a horse thief named Fontaine whose skull was used by Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Booth;[13] John "Pop" Reed, a stagehand whose skull was donated to the Walnut Street Theatre;[14][15] and George Frederick Cooke, whose skull was used without his consent for a production of Hamlet.[16] In 1955, an Argentinian man named Juan Potomachi vowed to leave 200,000 pesos to the Teatro Dramatico in Buenos Aires on the condition that his skull be preserved and used for the role of Yorick; his request was granted.[17][18]

American actor Del Close desired for his skull to be used to represent Yorick after his death, but this never came to fruition because nobody was willing to decapitate his body and process his skull. Charna Halpern, the executor of Close's will, donated a skull to the Theatre, but later admitted that the skull was actually purchased from a medical supply company. Close's real skull was cremated with the rest of his body.[19] Additionally, actors David Tennant and Jonathan Hartman have both stated that they desire for their skulls to be used as Yorick after their deaths.[20][21]

The symbol of Yorick's skull has become so iconic in theatre that it has occasionally been regarded as cliché, and some directors have sought to alter the scene. The production of Hamlet directed by Thomas Ostermeier, first performed at the Schaubühne in 2008, removed the scene with the gravediggers, instead alluding to Yorick with an image of a skull projected onto Hamlet's face. The Royal Exchange production starring Maxine Peake kept the scene, but replaced Yorick's skull with a sweater.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Muriel Bradbrook, Shakespeare the Craftsman, London, 1969, p. 135.
  2. ^ a b c Dickson, Andrew (16 February 2017). "Alas, poor Yorick! The shocking life of theatre's greatest skull". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Digest of theories of the name at Hamlet Works". hamletworks.net. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  4. ^ Hamlet the Arden Shakespeare. D. C. Heath & Co. 1 January 1917. p. 213.
  5. ^ Buckton, T. J. (24 February 1866). "Yorick". Notes and Queries. Series 3. IX (217): 166–167. doi:10.1093/nq/s3-IX.217.166d. eISSN 1471-6941. ISSN 0029-3970.
  6. ^ Kilroy, Gerard (1 April 2002). "Requiem for a Prince: Rites of Memory in Hamlet". The Downside Review. 120 (419): 91–112. doi:10.1177/001258060212041902. ISSN 0012-5806.
  7. ^ Alan R. Young, Hamlet and the Visual Arts, 1709–1900, University of Delaware Press, Newark, 2002, p.246.
  8. ^ a b "Alas, Poor Yorick: The Skulls of Stratford". Bone Broke. 10 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 April 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  9. ^ Ferré, David A. (2008) [1991]. "Story of the Skull". André Tchaikowsky Website. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  10. ^ "Bequeathed skull stars in Hamlet". BBC News website. 26 November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  11. ^ "Human skull abandoned by Hamlet". BBC News website. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  12. ^ "David Tennant to revive partnership with real skull for BBC's Hamlet". The Daily Telegraph. 24 November 2009. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  13. ^ "Letters: 'Hamlet' Skull". NPR. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Walnut Fun Facts". www.walnutstreettheatre.org. Archived from the original on 9 June 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Pop Reed Society". www.walnutstreettheatre.org. Archived from the original on 9 June 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  16. ^ Bowers, Rick (2011). "Shakespearean Celebrity in America: The Strange Performative Afterlife of George Frederick Cooke". Theatre History Studies. 31 (1): 27–50. ISSN 2166-9953.
  17. ^ "Everything you (n)ever needed to know about Shakespeare". British Council. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007.
  18. ^ Meier, Allison (13 April 2016). "Actors Have Been Dying to Play the Skeletal Role of Yorick in 'Hamlet'". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  19. ^ Friend, Tad (1 October 2006). "Skulduggery". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  20. ^ McLoughlin, Lisa (6 March 2025). "David Tennant offers to donate his own skull for iconic Hamlet scene". The Standard. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  21. ^ Lister, David (1 March 1995). "Alas, poor Yorick, I'll play his skull". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
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