«¿No tendrá ese hombre conciencia de su oficio, que canta mientras abre una fosa»
Legado en los huesos«¿No tendrá ese hombre conciencia de su oficio, que canta mientras abre una fosa?» is a question about a gravedigger who sings while opening a grave. Placed in the book’s opening material and attributed to Hamlet and William Shakespeare, it brings burial, labor, and song together in a single image.
Wording and Image
The question turns on the contrast between the gravedigger’s grave work and his singing. It asks whether he understands the nature of his own trade, making the song seem striking beside the grave he is opening. The wording leaves that contrast unresolved: the singer may appear unaware of the work’s gravity, or his song may simply accompany a familiar task.
Attribution and Placement
The book sets Hamlet and William Shakespeare beneath the question as its attribution. It appears among the opening epigraph-like material, before a separate reflection on a tomb holding two hearts, attributed to Alphonse de Lamartine. The placement gives the gravedigger’s song a funerary context without specifying a scene or character from the novel to which the question refers.
