Yorick
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Yorick can refer to:
- Yorick, the deceased court jester whose bones are exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on the vile effects of death. The contrast between Yorick as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" and his grim remains is a variation on the theme of earthly vanity (cf Vanitas): death being unavoidable, the things of this life are inconsequential. Though this theme of Memento mori ('Remember you shall die') is common in 16th and 17th century painting (see especially Mary Magdalene), Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea.
- Yorick, the name of a vicar in Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy. He is supposed to be a descendent of Shakespeare's Yorick. The figure of Yorick is often taken for a rueful self-portrait.
- Yorick, a programming language.
- Yorick, the name of an enemy in Konami's video game series Castlevania, specifically in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The enemy Yorick is a skeleton doomed to forever chase his skull, which has fallen off. When the skeleton finally reaches it, he kicks it with his feet, dooming him to do this forever.
- Yorick Brown, the protagonist of the Vertigo comic series Y: The Last Man.
- He is parodied by the character Saint Yoruk in the Zork series of computer games. See: Skull of Yoruk.