The theme brings up how any status would be irrelevant once past death. This is important because Hamlet adopted this Nihilistic idea and started to accept death as an inevitable consequence of his revenge. The mental obstacles were lifted once he believed that Claudius death was bound to happen as his fate and destiny. He proceeds to cause the death of three more people of different status, and then shows how they are now all equals.
Quotes:
"...Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam whereto he was converted might they not stop a beer barrel? Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. O, that that earth which kept the world in awe Should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw!” (5.1.214.223).
Explanation:
Death catches up to everyone and reduces all to unimportance. Even great leaders, such as Alexander and Caesar, are nothing more than dust and old news. Once they have died, they become comparable to peasants that once were towered over by these leaders.
"Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon-- He that hath killed my king and whored my mother, Popped in between th' election and my hopes, Thrown to his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage--is't not perfect consience. To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damned. To let his canker of our nature come In further evil?" (5.2.71-80).
Hamlet is determined to take down Claudius for all the injustices he has caused. Hamlet claims that Claudius killed Old Hamlet and had blinded Gertrude from the incest and corruption in between the two of them. Hamlet believes he can execute his plan with the idea that fate will lead to Claudius’s death.
"Heaven make thee free of it. I follow thee.-- I am dead, Horatio.-- Wretched queen, adieu.-- You taht hlook pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes or audiences to this act, Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you-- But let it be.-- Horatio, I am dead" (5.2.364-370).
Here, Hamlet accepts the fact that he will soon die. He knows that there would be consequences upon taking action to kill Claudius, but, at the same time, he knows that death should not be feared, since it is inevitable. Horatio is then in charge to report everything that has occurred.
