‘The Rest Is Silence’, Meaning & Context

“The rest is silence” is an idiom that mean no more words need to be said; no more expressions could have been made. A conversation or discussion has reached its conclusion. This idiom refers to its wrapping up. It is used in contexts where one might think of using “the end” or “in conclusion.”However, it can also be used in a broader context to express the end of some form of communication (not necessarily with death as the conversation around Hamlet often implies).

Origin of the Idiom “The Rest is Silence”

The expression “the rest is silence” first appeared in the 1600s. It probably came from the theater as a line to use at the end of a play or performance. It was also used to describe, more literally, the silence that follows when a person can no longer speak—after their death. Its appearance in Shakespeare gives it an upper-crust English-literate quality. Of Shakespeare’s 100,000-plus words, this phrase is on relatively few lips and is likely to remain a long time.

The Shakespeare Connection

The phrase “the rest is silence” is perhaps most famously attributed to the character of Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s eponymous play. It is a phrase that appears at the very end of the play, when Laertes has stabbed Hamlet. In this final moment, one could argue, Hamlet finally comes to terms with who he is as a person and what his fate is going to be. To say that “the rest is silence” is hard enough. It is an even larger abstraction to think or say that this moment is meant to resonate with a quiet acceptance of fate.However, a way to think of it is as a simple release for the character from the memory and the pretense of the word “remember.”

Throughout the play, Hamlet has been grappling with many problems, such as the death of his father, the hasty remarriage of his mother, and the treachery of his uncle. He also has suffered from what must have seemed like an overwhelming load of doubts and an almost fatalistic indecision. Yet in the end, he manages to do something, although what he does certainly leads to his own death. He kills Claudius, who is, of course, the main villain of the piece.

While he is on the verge of death, Hamlet speaks the words “the rest is silence.” Their meaning can be construed in several ways, yet one interpretation is that they represent the prince’s newfound acceptance of mortality. After all, the audience want us to perceive Hamlet as a hero of sorts, and what kind of hero would he be if he allowed his story to conclude in an unsavory way? Thus, the final moment is meant to resonate with the notion that Hamlet, at long last, has come to terms with his fate.

He can now rest eternally, having at long last reached a state of peace and happiness that evaded him for much of his life.

The Idiom in the Culture

The phrase “the rest is silence” serves as the subtitle for Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd. That book is now over a century old, and in the intervening years, Hardy’s words have been appropriated by a number of different artists for a number of different purposes. One of the more recent artists to use the line is the band Radiohead, who, in their song “The Rest Is Silence,” apply it to an audience’s posthumous experience of a loved one’s absence. Meanwhile, artist Guy Maddin has appropriated Hardy’s line for his 2003 film of the same name, which concerns a fictional account of humanity’s future after a cataclysm.

The Rest is Silence…

Using “The Rest is Silence”

• The detective closed the file and said, “The rest is silence.” He had solved the case. 
• The old man lay dying in his bed. He took a deep breath and said, “The rest is silence.” (This sentence uses the idiom to mean the end of life. The old man is ready to die and he is accepting his fate.)
• The musician finished playing her final note and the room was filled with silence. It was a moment of pure beauty and perfection. She bowed, smiled, and said “the rest is silence.
• The scientist looked at the results of her experiment and said, This is a definitve discovery. The rest is silence.” 

Final notes

The idiom “the rest is silence” expresses something very powerful. It suggests the end—perhaps the end of life, but not only that: also the end of a journey, the resignation and acceptance of a fate that no longer seems worth battling against. It carries, in some contexts, a suggestion of hope. It may even narrate a vision of life after this one. … What is odd about this idiom’s compact nature is that it, in almost every context, gazes outward and suggests mystery. The phrase carries no simple association with the state of being dead or a defunct body. Yet it suggests such and more: the emblematic association of death in almost every culture with silence.

“The rest is silence” is a stunning and provocative statement. It calls to mind the basic reality of existence, that this life and the things of it—our work, our loves, our hugs and handshakes—are fleeting. And within that basic reality is the counterintuitive idea that the silence of death is full of potential; that the space left behind is a sort of canvas on which to painting the big picture of art or the little pictures of individual lives.

The statement is also beautiful in that it contains an oblique reminder—when it calls to mind the basic reality of existence, the way that this life and the things of it are fleeting—that this basic reality is something a person might want to think about when considering the nature and value of existence.