Hamlet Act 3 Scene 3 Reasons Why Not To Kill Claudius

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Claudius’s soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 3, demonstrates that he is a very ambitious, selfish and sorrow individual with a sense of guilt. Claudius is very ambitious to where his lust for power often drives his actions. His desire for power will often lead to horrible consequences. For instance, it was revealed in Claudius’s soliloquy that he did in fact murder King Hamlet, his own brother. There are no limits to what Claudius will surpass in order to achieve what he wants since killing his own brother was not crossing over the line and he saw King Hamlet as nothing but a barrier standing in his way of gaining power. For example, Claudius expresses that “My guilt is stronger than my intentions. And like a person with two opposite things to do at once, I stand paralyzed and neglect them both”, meaning that

During lines 57-60, Claudius has a prolonged moment of wisdom and revelation in which he describes how “corrupted currents,” (57) of the mortal world can bribe the law but that this is not the case “above,” (60) in heaven. This revelation is yet more irony as Claudius’ truthful statement about not being able to bribe heaven contradicts his attempts to pick a particular prayer with which he could gain redemption from heaven. Shakespeare does break scansion during line 57 and ends it with a single syllabled “masculine” word, emphasizing that the mortal world’s corruption and Claudius’ own corruption are real. During his wise moment, Claudius mentions “Offence’s gilded hand,” (58) shoving by justice. The gilded nature of the hand that attempts to bypass justice is a metaphor for Claudius’ own seemingly benevolent appearance of seeking redemption while he is in reality trying to find a shortcut to redemption without having to give up his spoils of murder. Interestingly, Shakespeare breaks scansion in line 58 and ends it with a two syllabled “feminine” word showing that Claudius does not believe that he can actually escape justice and achieve redemption deceitfully. This shows that Claudius may have the potential for redemption after

It is ironic that Hamlet doesn’t kill the King whilst he is praying because before Hamlet enters Claudius reveals in his soliloquy how useless he feels that his prayer of repentance is:

• This scene of dramatic irony showcases Hamlet`s hatred for Claudius. He does not kill Claudius when he is praying because he doesn’t want him to go to heaven. Hamlet wants to wait until Claudius commits a sin to kill him, so that he will go to hell.

Everything is Claudius’s Fault William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, is chock full of sorrows and deaths. All of these sorrows could have been ignored if the wicked Claudius had not murdered his brother, the King. With Claudius as King of Denmark, chaos ensues as nature attempts to correct itself, killing many in the process. Claudius is primarily responsible for the deaths of Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, and Laertes. Claudius’s goal is to kill Hamlet once Hamlet discovers Claudius has killed Hamlet’s father.

Hamlet believes that if he kills Claudius he will not be avenging his father’s death. This is because Claudius was praying just before Hamlet was about to act in Scene 3. If Hamlet killed Claudius, Claudius would have gone to heaven and Hamlet does not want Claudius to go to heaven. Hamlet believed that Claudius was the one eavesdropping when really it was an innocent Polonius. Hamlet probably believed that Claudius was not praying at that time so he decided to kill him immediately.

     Claudius’ lies are effective enough to persistently deceive to play’s antagonist, Hamlet. Despite Hamlet’s disgust with Claudius for marrying Gertrude, and his view of Claudius as “a king of shreds and patches” (III.iv.104), Hamlet suspicion of Claudius as a murderer is preliminarily nonexistent. The appearance of a spirit claiming to be Hamlet’s dead father first alerts Hamlet to the actions of “that incestuous, that adulterate beast, /With witchcraft of his with, with traitorous gifts” (I.v.42-3). And yet still, Hamlet remains hesitant to believe that Claudius was the murderer, searching for complementary evidence. The play that Hamlet enacts -- designed to “catch the conscience of the king” (II.ii.562) --succeeds in revealing Claudius’ guilt, but does not provoke instant action on Hamlet’s part. So effective is Claudius’ manipulation of the royal circle that he manages to almost permanently stay the revelation of his guilt, and if it weren’t for supernatural intervention against an injustice, he may never have been exposed.

Hamlet 1. Hamlet is in an almost permanent state of confusion during the play, which makes him avenging his father’s death difficult. Hamlet does not understand Gertrude’s relationship with Claudius. Also, Hamlet does not receive proof that Claudius killed Old Hamlet until the play within the play. Hamlet does not take action against Claudius as soon as he discovers his guilt, because he does not want to send Claudius to heaven.

He is saying that revenge will not occur if Claudius is praying, because since he is being purged of his sins he will go to heaven instead of suffering in purgatory. Hamlet believes that since Claudius killed his father and caused him to suffer

The audience views Claudius attempting to pray. He wants forgiveness from the heavens for the murder he commits, but he knows he does not deserve it when he still possesses the things he kills for. It is this murder that sets the play in motion; his displaced love turns him into a villain. Not once does

One reason Hamlet is not going through with killing Claudius is that Claudius is praying. Hamlet believes that since Claudius is praying, he will go to heaven. Hamlet wants him to go to hell instead. According to Hamlet, allowing Claudius to go to heaven is not revenge for his father's death. Hamlet says,

It is in Act one scene two that we are first introduced to the character of Claudius. The impression made by him is that of a powerful and controlled man who is respected by most. His mannerisms of speech are graceful and are nothing less than the words of a king, 'to bear our heats with grief, and our whole kingdom.' Claudius is presented to us by

Shakespeare's drama Hamlet has become a central piece of literature of Western culture. It is the story of a prince named Hamlet, who lost his father. Soon after that he has to confront multiple obstacles and devises a series of situations to defend the new king's royalty. Furthermore, he had to prove that King Claudius, who was the prince's uncle, had killed Hamlet's father. This story has remained among the most popular and the most controversial plays around the world. It generates controversy for all the doubts that this play leaves with the readers. One of the most questioning situations in the play is the delay of Hamlet in avenging Claudius' for his father's death. As a reader this

In act III, scene iii of the play, Claudius prays for forgiveness of his sins while Hamlet Jr. is spying on him. Though Hamlet Jr. intended to kill Claudius at that point, he spares his life because it is believed that if someone is killed while they are praying, they will go to heaven. Through this event, Shakespeare is able to progress

In the book of Hamlet there were many opportunities to take his revenge but Hamlet found reasons not to. He always found ways to procrastinate until the end of the book. It came to a point where he was a danger to everyone around him. If he would have killed Claudius the first chance he got many lives could have been spared. Hamlet has proved throughout the story he had difficulty taking his revenge by killing King Claudius.