A Brief Analysis Of The Alas! Poor Papyrus! Line And Why It Hurts Me

A Brief Analysis of the “Alas! Poor Papyrus!” Line and Why It Hurts Me

We’ve all got a favorite quote from Undertale. It’s hard not to, with how good the writing and story telling is. I can still quote many lines from memory.

However, one line in particular often goes over looked. It’s not all that surprising, as it really doesn’t seem like to much on the surface. Just three lines of amusing filler before the real shit hits the fans. I think it’s more than that.

In a Neutral route, Papyrus will say two things upon his death. Firstly, when in the initial decapitation he will say “Alas! Poor Papyrus!” while still holding his head. Next, he will declare “Well, at least I still have my head!” before finally dying.

The last quotation is going to need an analysis of its own, so we’re just gonna focus on the first one for right now.

(Screenshot credit to Fallen Rub from SomethingAwful forums)

So! First off, that’s a pretty weird thing to say. Imagine your head just for socked off my a homicidal seven year old with a god complex. Would your reaction be to smile- because he is smiling- and say something odd like that? What does that even mean?

It’s Shakespeare.

He’s reciting a line from Hamlet. To be specific, line from Act 5, Scene 1 of the play. The title character is given the skull of the old Court Jester, Yorik. Hamlet proceeds to lament to the skull, discussing the fond memories he has with it, as if it were still alive. He contemplates the nature of death and memory, declaring “Alas! Poor Yorik! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy....” (Hamlet, Act-V, Scene-I, Lines 160-162).

(Hamlet Pictured here is David Tennant)

Interestingly, Papyrus is not putting himself in the place of Hamlet. He isn’t just declaring his mortality, he’s also calling himself a fool. Yorik as a character is characterized as a comic relief. He is a fool, a clown. Someone to be jeered and laughed at. Even in his death, he is called nothing more.

This may allude to Papyrus’s view on himself. Under all of his confidence and flamboyant personality, the guy clearly has some insecurities. He’s well aware that not a ton of people like him, or even notice he’s there. That’s got to wear away at someone after a while.

It’s a bit of a stretch, but I think it’s interesting none the less.

So. I had free time after finals today and may have gotten just a LITTLE carried away with dolls design 👉👈

🌹🤪

From Chapter 1 of The Light at the End of the Tunnel; Dum Spiro Spero:

“The man felt himself sigh, well, as close as one could get to a sigh after countless years without breath.”

Sorry its abit short! The entire chapter is written in short paragraphs haha. Ok let’s be honest here, the entire fic.

*aggressively slides you anouther ‘mermay special’ preview*

No joke, this one litterally took me hours (spread out over the past couple of days bUT STILL). So,,, so many bits and bobbles,,,,,

I forgot to post these lmao

They’re doodles from my fic Because She Died! I made em after I finished Chapter 10 (Noceur), and was gonna make a couple more doodle pages for the upcoming chapters..... But I set the project on the permanent back burner in favor of writing said chapters haha.

So anyways, I’ll just drop em in now.

CLOSE UPS & TRANSLATIONS

Free Space Uncomfortable Froggit (upper left): AKA anytime Paps talks to this poor thing

Undyne and Lesser dog (upper right): LET THEM BE FRIENDS DAMMIT

Froggit My Beloved (lowest): I don’t know how to make these lMAO

(Also, it got cut off by the screen shot but: My friend taught me once but I forgot)

Our main characters!

Arrow to Sans: Litterally in a coma

Arrow to Paps: If he has one more coffee he will snap

Arrow to Undyne: Has broken 7 doors already

I found a highlighter :)

Flowey: You’re not LYING to me, ARE YOU?

Sweater weather

Froggit (left): Feel good Froggit

The price of Justice (right): I like heavy shading-

Sans for 90% of this fic

No text

Papyrus: He looks like a marshmallow.

Caption: Definitely not projecting-

* DETERMINATION