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.