The contrast between Yorick as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" and his grim remains reflects on the theme of earthly vanity: 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.

Memento mori are also expressed in images of playful children or young men, 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 a lasting embodiment of this idea, and has been depicted by later artists as part of the vanitas tradition.
The contrast between Yorick as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" and his grim remains reflects on the theme of earthly vanity: 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.
Memento mori are also expressed in images of playful children or young men, 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 a lasting embodiment of this idea, and has been depicted by later artists as part of the vanitas tradition.
Yorick