Why?
GRAVEDIGGER
Because Englishmen are as mad as he is to begin with.
HAMLET
How did he go mad?
GRAVEDIGGER
Very strangely, they say.
How, "strangely?"
GRAVEDIGGER
By losing his wits.
HAMLET
On what ground?
GRAVEDIGGER
Why, here in Denmark.
(Beat.)
HAMLET
How long will a man lie in the earth before he rots?
GRAVEDIGGER
If he isn't rotten before he dies? So many corpses today
barely keep together before they're underground. But
normally they last about eight or nine years--unless he's a
tanner.
HAMLET
Why a tanner longer than others?
GRAVEDIGGER
Because his hide has been so tanned by his trade that he'll
keep the water out longer; it's water that decays the body
mostly. (Picking up another skull.) Now here's a skull
that's been in the earth for twenty-three years.
HAMLET
Whose was it?
GRAVEDIGGER
A trickster's. Who do think it?
HAMLET
I don't know.
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