How does the use of comic relief best contrast Hamlet's tragedy? In great literary works a comic relief is used in contrast to a serious scene to heighten the overall tragic nature of the work or to relieve tension. As illustrated in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, intense scenes combine with characters' jokes and vacuous actions to add comic relief. In Hamlet, Polonius serves as comic relief with his dim-witted and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and negativity towards the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are comic relief with their senseless and naive actions. natures. Polonius, Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern are all used as comic relief to enhance the ultimate tragic nature of the play. Polonius is comic relief due to his dim-witted and self-centered personality. Polonius is overeager and tries to give unwanted advice, throughout the show he is tactless and often rude. For example, Polonius is comic relief during his conversation with Gertrude and Claudius regarding Hamlet's madness. Polonius rambling in his conversation contrasts with Gertrude's seriousness in wanting to discover the reason for Hamlet's madness. As Polonius begins to give the king and queen the results of his investigation, he makes this statement: “My lord and lady, to protest/What should be the majesty, what is the duty,/What day is the day, the night is night, and time is time,/ If it were nothing but wasting night, day, and time;/ Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,/ And boredom the outward limbs and flowers,/ I will be brief. Your noble son is crazy. . . .”(IIIi,86-92) . Polonius' speech is meandering and nonsensical, wasting ti...... half of paper ......d who was insulted for being stupid. Hamlet uses his intelligence and morbid sense of humor to portray in the play how sad the play truly is. In conclusion, comic relief is used to relieve tension and to contrast serious scenes to enhance the ultimate tragic nature of the play. Polonius uses his dull self-centered personality to create humor in his scenes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act foolish with their tactless actions and dialogue, their lightheartedness making the tragic parts of the play seem even more tragic. And finally Hamlet uses his morbid humor to intensify scenes of pain while sometimes bitterly mocking others to ease tensions. The comic relief of Shakespeare's Hamlet contrasts intense scenes to make them more intense. Work cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Harold Jenkins. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.