This scene is a bit of a comic relief to lighten the situation. Hamlet's encounter with the gravedigger explains the nature of death and is a turning point in Hamlet's character. The structure serves to move Hamlet and the audience closer to the realization that death is inevitable and universal.
This encounter provides information of Hamlet's return from England and sets the stage for Hamlet's discovery of Ophelia's death. This grants him a realistic outlook on the nature of death and his own fate. Up to this point Hamlet had concentrated on doing what his fathers ghost had prescribed. …
