In his soliloquy in Act III, Claudius reveals the depth of
his weakness and moral corruption. After observing that prayer serves two purposes, to
keep us from sin or to pardon us after we have sinned, Claudius asks himself the
rhetorical question and then answers it. He cannot pray for forgiveness for murdering
Old Hamlet because he still possesses the fruits of his crime--his ambition, his crown,
and Gertrude, his queen. There is no prayer for Claudius since he is unwilling to give
these up in order to truly repent.
What makes this
soliloquy especially interesting is that Claudius is well aware of the state of mortal
sin in which he lives:
O wretched state! O bosom black as
death!
O limed soul, that struggling to be
free
Art more
engaged!
He longs for
forgiveness, even petitioning the angels to soften his heart and bow his knees, but he
will not acknowledge personal responsibility and accept the consequences in order to
save his soul. "Pray can I not," he says, hoping foolishly that "[a]ll may be
well."
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