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With his evil wit and traitorous gifts—oh wicked wit and gifts, that have the power to seduce!—he convinced my seemingly virtuous queen to give in to his lust. Oh, Hamlet, she fell so far! From me, who loved her with the dignity that goes hand in hand with my marriage vows, to a wretch whose natural abilities could not compare to mine.
- Act 3, Scene 2
HAMLET. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion...
- Hamlet
Hamlet follows the ghost as it leads him along, but soon...
- Act 3, Scene 2
His offence was rank, it smelt to heaven. It had the most primal ancient curse on it. A brother’s murder! He tried to kneel but couldn’t. He couldn’t pray, even though his need to was as powerful as it could be. His guilt outweighed his strong desire.
But God decided to punish me by making me commit this murder—and to punish this man by having me kill him—so that I’m both Heaven’s judge and executioner. I will deal with the body, and suffer the consequences of the death I gave him.
31 maj 2020 · Claudius begins his soliloquy by describing his ‘offence’ – killing his brother, Old Hamlet – as ‘rank’, i.e. foul-smelling and offensive. His crime is the very first murder in the Bible: Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, from the book of Genesis, and the subsequent curse placed upon mankind.
It cannot help Hamlet’s emotional state that the man he is charged to kill is his uncle, a man who may be evil but who is still his father’s brother and his mother’s husband. The inner conflict must be tremendous here.
In this soliloquy, Claudius confesses the deed and recoils at its smell. It is "rank" (that is, "rancid"), so rank that the vile odor wafts all the way to heaven. Thoughts of heaven remind...
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will: My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; 40: And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
