Dealing  with  death  in  literature  paradoxically  serves  to  question  the meaning of life. In this respect, death and life can be seen as semantically connected  rather  than  being  opposed  to  each  other.  The  most  powerful experience of becoming aware of death in daily life is directly observing the death  of  another  person,  and the most  representative example  is a funeral. Funeral scenes can  be seen  in  many literary works,  and  among them,  this study  aimed  to  examine  the  characteristics  of  funerals  through  William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and James Joyce’s Ulysses. First, it was found that the funerals in Hamlet and Ulysses are not just funerals for an individual, but are part of the death prevalent in the society in which the texts are set. In other words, it can be seen that the atmosphere of death in Elsinore in Hamlet and Dublin  in  Ulysses  is  prevalent  in  the  spaces  themselves.  The  death  of  an individual is caused by society. Second, a character who plays the role of a clown appears at the funeral in both Hamlet and Ulysses. In a funeral scene that seems solemn, serious, and full of sadness, a person playing the role of a clown appears and evokes humor. Third, the humor of the characters who play the role of clowns at the funerals of Hamlet and Ulysses has a subversive nature that challenges authority. Moreover, the humor of these clowns in the grave goes beyond the absolute dichotomy between life and death and also shows the cyclical nature of life and death.