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Yorick is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the dead court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on mortality:
The opening words are very commonly misquoted as "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well." It has often been suggested that Shakespeare intended his audience to connect Yorick with the Elizabethan comedian Richard Tarlton, a star performer of the pre-Shakespearian stage, who had been dead for around the same time as Yorick in the play.〔Muriel Bradbrook, ''Shakespeare the Craftsman'', London, 1969, p. 135.〕 ==Vanitas imagery== 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. This theme of Memento mori ('Remember you shall die') is common in 16th- and 17th-century painting, appearing in art throughout Europe. Images of Mary Magdalene regularly showed her contemplating a skull. It is also a very common motif in 15th- and 16th-century British portraiture. A more direct comparison is with pictures of playful children or young men, who are often depicted looking at a skull as a sign of the transience of life. It was also a familiar motif in emblem books and tombs. Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea, and has been depicted by later artists as a continuation of the Vanitas tradition. Many have frequently drawn the comparison between Jamie O'Tins and Yorick as a result of their similar character traits. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yorick」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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