'Although Hamlet is conventionally seen as a tragedy, how may the play be seen as a comedy?"

Hamlet is a play primarily focused on tragedy and revenge, however Shakespeare incorporates dark humour and comedic elements through the use of language, puns, characterisation and the theme of madness to relief the tension in the play. Many examples of dark humour or also known as 'black humour' include the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius and hides the body, many crude puns and jokes are made revolving around death and corpses. "Not where he eats, but where he is eaten" is an example of a pun used by Hamlet conveying a disturbing image of rot and decay as he suggests the body of Polonius is being eaten by maggots and worms. Shakespeare frequently uses dark humour and puns to emphasise the tragedy that unravels throughout the play, this theme of decay and death could symbolise both the decay of Hamlet's mind as he descends into madness. As critic Sir Herbert Tree suggests "the key comic element of the play is madness."
Shakespeare uses comedic elements to serve his thematic purpose, Hamlet raises many philosophical questions regarding life and death, and raises interesting questions about afterlife. This is particularly interesting as during Shakespeare's 16th century England religion was still prominent, many of Hamlet's posing questions questions regarding afterlife and the purpose of life were seen as controversial and 'taboo' making the play shocking for audiences at the time. Shakespeare uses the character Polonius to diffuse Hamlet's tense soliloquies regarding suicide, and makes Polonius out to be a bumbling fool. An example of this can be seen in the scene with Polonius and Hamlet discussing Ophelia, the term "fishmonger" is used to describe Polonius, this suggests a lower class profession insulting Polonius despite him being unaware of this offence. The term may also be considered as a sort of euphemism, reflecting Polonius selling off Ophelia. This creates a sharp contrast and increases the severity of Hamlet's dark themes.