In sonnet 55, the sonneteer is contrasting his sonnet's immortality to 'unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time'. In the first line 'not marble, nor the guilded monuments of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme', Shakespeare is telling us that his sonnet has more power and can outlive any statues and monuments. Monuments will be crumbled to dust and blackened overtime, but not his sonnet. Shakespeare uses lots of imagery concerning the negative consequences of the passage of time and the terrors of war, for example 'when wasteful war shall statues overturn/ And broils root out the work of masonry/ Nor Mars his sword, not war's quick fire shall burn/ The living record of your memory', to tell us that monuments cannot withstand the forces of decay over time. They can easily fall to ruin during wars and other attacks. They may also leaved uncared after the entombed and may be forgotten by others. Shakespeare is suggesting that using monuments or graves for remembrance for the dead may not be the best way.

However, it is rather ironic that while the main purpose of the poem is for the patron to "live on" in the sonnet, the poet himself is the one who is remembered by the many generations of readers to come.

It is also notable that Shakespeare 's idea of a monument can be metaphorical. In the sonnet 6, Shakespeare describes having an heir is leaving something, like beauty for the posterity to remember, as '' leaving thee living in posterity'' shows that.Or the worms will eat the patron and death can eventually overcome him. Having an heir is a metaphor for building a monument for remembrance. In Hamlet, Horatio seems to become hamlet's monument as he orders him to live and tell his story. This is to preserve his memory in the humankind to be honoured. In this way Horatio performs as a monument metaphorically.

Monument can be used for political purpose as well. In Hamlet, Fortinbras orders the soldiers to give Hamlet a military funeral to be remembered since he is proved to be' most royally'. But Hamlet certainly is not a soldier and he has even been a king for the last few minutes before he died. He didn't allow Horatio to die and ordered Horatio to tell the story of him to the people after he died. It is in some way quite ironic that even after Hamlet's death and gloriously end the Hamlet's dynasty, Hamlet still couldn't get what he truly wanted--to be the king of Denmark since Fortinbras addressed Hamlet as 'most royally' soldier. And it is still questionable for Hamlet to deserve this kind of a funeral. Certainly Hamlet can be a good soldier as he is so loyal and persistent, and is ruthless in killing his former schoolmates and Polonius. But he has a noble character, trying to counsel his mother to be a true queen, and even performs the job of a king by giving Fortinbras a right to rule Denmark before death. He does deserve more than just a military funeral. Therefore Fortinbras only tries to establish his rule and identity rather than truly building a monument to pay tribute and respect for Hamlet.

In Hamlet, Act 4 Scene 7 takes place in the graveyard. Imagery of graves and the skull of Yorick symbolizes death and mortality of man. Yorick's death is not only disheartening to Hamlet, but also reminds the prince of how every human being, including great powerful men in history is subjected to death: "Alexander returneth into dust/ Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay", picturing these great leaders turning into dust and clay after death. Hamlet always contemplates about death himself and is so depressed about how the King can decay and end up eaten by worms and lastly ends up in beggars' stomach. Since Hamlet always contemplates about death himself, so grave touches on a more serious matter instead of merely 'jokes' from the two grave diggers in this scene.

Graves and monuments are also presented in Much Ado About Nothing. Claudio and Don Pedro wrongly accused Hero as a "wanton" which leads to Hero's pretence of death. Claudio agrees to mourn for Hero after he discovers the truth. In Act 5 Scene 3 Claudio reads out from the epitaph 'Done to death by slanderous tongues / Was the Hero that here lies', acknowledging his wrong accusation. The grave scene submerges into darkness and sorrow, with the mournful music and song. This scene adds a sense of seriousness to the play, with Claudio demonstrating his remorse by reading the epitaph and singing the song. It deviates from the title 'Much Ado About Nothing' which seems to be about a fuss. If the play ends here, it will become a tragedy instead of a comedy. However, the final wedding scene of Claudio and the "revitalized" Hero brings back to relief.