The Gift of conviction-Hamlet
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is widely regarded as his best work. The play is a tragedy about Prince Hamlet and is struggle to gain revenge for his father's premature death. Claudius is the antagonist of the play for he murdered King Hamlet and then married Queen Gertrude soon after to the dismay of Prince Hamlet. The plot is structured around Prince Hamlet's desire to avenge his father's murder, by killing Claudius the murderer. However, there is much to say about Claudius, a man who would murder his own brother and then marry his dead brother's wife. Questions arise that would seek to reveal the conscience of this apparently evil man. Is it possible for such a man to feel guilt and conviction for what he has done? The answer is yes and lines 36-72 in Act III, Scene iii, of the play reveal Claudius' heart. Claudius, a man entrapped by his own sins, indeed felt true conviction tugging away at his soul. The first clue that reveals that Claudius is feeling conviction is a period of guilt and shame. Just before Act III, Scene iii, Prince Hamlet had put on a play of his own craft. The play was designed to lure the guilt and conviction out of Claudius so that Hamlet would know without a doubt what
murder of his brother and the "primal eldest curse" is speaking of the curse that Cain received from God when he killed his brother. Claudius feels as though God has cursed him for his deeds, and he can no longer pray to God no matter how much he wants to. Claudius then goes on to reveal how truly convicted about this he is when he says, "My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent" (40). He is talking here about how his guilt is so much stronger than his desire to be King. Claudius' own words offer strong evidence for the conviction he now feels deep in his heart. The last sign that Claudius feels conviction is his inability to pray. Claudius knows because of the conviction he feels so strongly that he is not fit to pray to God. He expressed this earlier in the soliloquy when he said, "...Pray can I not, / Though inclination be as sharp as will." (38-39). Claudius also speaks of prayer again when says, "And what's in prayer but this two fold force, / To be forestalled ere we come to fall" (48-49). Claudius confirms his feelings of conviction here by saying how his prayers now are hopeless because he is fallen. Claudius knows that the only way to end this overwhelming guilt is to repent and turn from his sin, but he cannot and tries to reason another way. He asks the question, "My fault is past but, O, what form of prayer / Can serve my turn?" (51-52), to which he replies, "Forgive me my foul murther? / That cannot be since I am still possess'd / Of those effects for which I did the murther:" (52-54). Claudius knows that repenting to God will do him no good as lo
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Approximate Word count = 1069
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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