The Tragic History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark: 3.3.85-96

To take him in the purging of his soul,                   85

When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?

No.

Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.

When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,

Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed,                 90

At game a-swearing, or about some act

That has no relish of salvation in’t –

Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,

And that his soul may be as damned and black

As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays.                     95

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.

This soliloquy, spoken by Hamlet upon hearing Claudius’s penitent prayer in Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 85-96, in The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, illuminates his sinister logic that delays the murder of Claudius.  Hamlet’s postponement of the murder does not stem from his emotional remorse or pity for Claudius.  Rather, his hesitation springs from his perverse theological analysis of Claudius’s spiritual state as a sinner.  Hamlet knows that according to Christian theology, a repentant murderer like Claudius can be saved by grace.  Hamlet fears this possibility of Claudius’s redemptive state in afterlife, not only because he believes in retribution, but more threateningly, because Claudius’s redemption could mean that his free soul may join up with his mother again in the spiritual world.  In other words, if Hamlet kills Claudius at his redemptive moment, then he must accept one ominous possibility: Claudius’s physical obliteration might not warrant the two lover’s spiritual separation.  Claudius’s death, in other words, would merely mark the two lover’s mortal separation, while their spiritual, eternal reunion (when queen dies) is unguarded.  What Hamlet plots to intercept is this portentous possibility of the two lover’s “incestuous” (90) perpetuation in the next life.  However theologically perverse, Hamlet believes that only by killing Claudius at his most sinful, irredeemable state, the two lover’s both physical and spiritual alienation can be achieved.   

Lines 85-88 convey Hamlet’s preliminary response to and analysis of Claudius’s remorseful prayer.  Upon hearing Claudius’s self-accusatory confession, instead of rushing to kill Claudius, Hamlet pauses and collects himself.  The regularity of iambic pentameter in these lines parallels Hamlet’s controlled reasoning.  He begins to suspect that Claudius’s soul may be redeemed: “To take him in the purging of his soul, / When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?” (85-86).  The otherwise flowing rhythm of iambic pentameter suddenly halts to one syllable in line 87: Hamlet emphatically utters “No” to killing Claudius at such a salvable state.  Hamlet concludes that this is not the right moment to kill Claudius because he dreads the potential, divine impunity of Claudius’s sin.  No longer certain that Claudius’s death will effectuate his eternal damnation, Hamlet utters “No” (87). 

Hamlet, in line 88, rearranges his murder plot against Claudius to a later date.  The opening spondee – that is distinctly separated by two commas – creates much turbulence in the meter scheme to encapsulate Hamlet’s delayed, yet more determined resolution to stab Claudius.  The personified spondee – with a physically provoking “Up,” (88) and a combative object, “sword,” (88) – indicates Hamlet’s present inaction of killing Claudius cannot be interpreted as a passive resignation.  Rather, the personification of the two militant words, “Up, sword,” (88) prefigures the immediacy of the imminent slaughter of Claudius.  The rest of the lines, “and know thou a more horrid hent” (88), also stray from predictable iambic cadence to accentuate Hamlet’s self-suppressed, calculated motive.  The uncontrolled, ferocious burst of “Up, sword,” (88) is quickly repressed by Hamlet’s chilling reasoning.  He decides to delay the murder until “a more horrid hent” (88) can be framed for Claudius.

Throughout the soliloquy, the harsh consonants, “S” and “H,” reinforce Hamlet’s injurious plot against Claudius as both “sinister” and “hellish,” respectively.  For instance, the following “s” phrases are all indicative of Hamlet’s “sinistrous” accusations against Claudius: “his soul” (85), “seasoned for his passage” (86), “drunk asleep” (89), “At game a-swearing” (91), “some act” (91), “salvation in’t” (92), and most pungently, “th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed” (90) and  “This physic but prolongs thy sickly days” (96, emphasis added in all phrases).  Likewise, the “h” phrases denote the “hellishness” of Hamlet’s plot against Claudius.  For example, the alliterative phrase, “a more horrid hent” (88); the synecdochic expression, “his heels may kick at heaven” (93); and finally, the simile “that his soul may be as damned and black/As hell” (95) all depict “hellish” quality to the plot.  Thus, both “s” and “h” phrases, subliminally planted throughout the passage, underscore Hamlet’s maliferous plot against Claudius. 

In contrast to the subliminal undertones scattered throughout the passage, in lines 89-92, Hamlet explicitly points to the optimal moments to entrap Claudius.  In line 89, for example, Hamlet schemes two antithetical moments to kill Claudius: either in his “drunk asleep, or in his rage” (89).  These two bipolar activities also implicate that, in Hamlet’s perception, Claudius’s character is basically two dimensional: slothful and wrathful, both of which constitute two of the “seven deadly sins.”  Claudius’s two dimensional demeanor rapidly descends to an adulterous and blasphemous state: “incestuous pleasure” (90) and “game a-swearing” (91), both of which are also condemned under the “seven deadly sins.”  Thus, Hamlet’s numerous charges against Claudius’s character show that he is morally decayed and thus unfit to be a king.  It is fitting, then, that Claudius’s soul will “[have] no relish of salvation” (92) in the next life.  Notably, the sound effects of the words/phrases that deviate from their iambic structure seem to pound on Claudius’s incorrigibleness: “incestuous” (90), “about some act” (91), and “salvation in’t –” (92).  Among these three, one particularly stands out: “incestuous pleasure[s],” which Hamlet deplores the most, and thus which he (perhaps) considers to be the most optimal moment to kill Claudius. 

In line 92-94, black imagery and an inconclusive dash accentuate Hamlet’s relentless condemnation of Claudius.  In line 92, Hamlet wishes that Claudius’s “soul may be as damned and black” (94) with “no relish of salvation in’t –”.  The only dash in the passage after “salvation in’t –” heightens the infinite nature of eternal punishment that Hamlet schemes for Claudius.  Thus, the black imagery, a symbol of death, combined with the perpetual dash, signals a kind of hell suited for Claudius.   

In lines 95, Hamlet concludes that it is “hell, whereto it [Claudius] goes,” but his “mother stays” (95) with him.  Notably, Hamlet refers to Claudius’s soul as “it” (not even human) that goes to “hell.”  What is most crucial and conspicuous in line 95 is the distance established by the double syntax.  The period after the first sentence, “As hell, whereto it goes” (95) before the new sentence “My mother stays” (95) creates a deliberate space that enforces a separation between the two “incestuous” (90) lovers.  Also, this spatial construction hints at Hamlet’s possessiveness of his mother.  By capitalizing “M” in “My mother,” Hamlet seems show his strong attachment to his mother and a determination to preserve her by his side.

Finally, the couplet’s (line 95-96) rhyming assonance, “mother stays” and “sickly days,” capture the ultimate fate of Claudius.  Hamlet uses this paradoxical juxtaposition of “This physic” and “sickly days” (96) to dramatize the final anguishing moments of Claudius.  This paradoxical deployment suggests that “physic” (the medicinal intervention), ironically, can only harm Claudius by “prolong[ing his] sickly days” (96).  Claudius’s “sickly days” on earth, prolonged by his remorseful confession (the “physic”), will not help him escape his ultimate fate in hell.  In fact, to exacerbate his final damnation, his soothing companion, the queen, “stays” (96, emphasis added) with Hamlet.  The verb “stays,” in particular, uniquely cements the queen’s motion with Hamlet; it is the only static verb in the passage.  The other verbs throughout the passage, such as “take,” “drunk,” “a-swearing,” “trip,” “kick” and “goes,” all portray action.  These active verbs markedly contrast with the static immobility of the queen’s final motion: she “stays” while Claudius “goes” to “hell” (95).  These antithetical destinations of the two lovers, “hell” for Claudius and “earth” for Gertrude” forecast Claudius’s final moments, his fate. 

This soliloquy, spoken by Hamlet upon hearing Claudius’s penitent prayer in Act 3, Scene 3, Lines 85-96, in The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, elucidates Hamlet’s underlying sinister logic that delays the killing of Claudius.  His theological analysis that leads to this postponement is perverse yet rational and strategic.  Hamlet’s primary reason in lengthening Claudius’s “sickly days” (96) is born by his calculated reasoning.  He aims to capture Claudius at his most (optimally) abominable state that guarantees Claudius’s soul in “hell” (95).  What Hamlet ultimately plots against Claudius is not only an attempt on his part to ascertain eternal damnation of his soul, but most importantly, that he is without a companion, his mother, in the next life.  Only then, can Hamlet be assured that the two lover’s “incestuous pleasure[s]” (90) will not perpetuate eternally. 

Works Cited

Braunmuller, A.R. The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. New York: Penguin, 2001

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