Lee 1
Brooklyn Lee
Matheny p. 6
Due: 11/14/16
Hamlet Essay
Word count with in-text citations: 1472
Ham-Let Me into Heaven:
Religious Imagery and Morality in Two Soliloquies
Much of Hamlet revolves around soliloquies, andCladius, the now-king and step-father to Hamlet, is one of the few people to have a developed soliloquy other than Hamlet in this play. Although comparing soliloquies between two different characters to look for characterization within a soliloquy may seem counterintuitive, the similarities in the language and drive of the characters at the two specific points chosen, that is the soliloquy of Cladius speaking to God about repentance and, preceding that, Hamlet discussing his current state and deciding to use a play to discover Cladius’ guilt, are very pointedly similar and importantly different. Cladius and Hamlet both find themselves at a position of either seeking forgiveness and questioning whether they deserve repentance or pre-emptively wondering whether they are righteous, and in that vein, capable of being forgiven. While Hamlet believes that he is righteous in his plans to enact revenge over his father’s death he still needs certainty that he is not being led by the devil. Hamlet tries to act as a messiah to his father and save him from the brink of purgatory through vengeance. However, there is an essential flaw in the fact that Hamlet operates under the ideology that murder for vengeance is morally acceptable. Meanwhile, Cladius is dealing with his own moral dilemmas as he comes to terms with the sins he has committed and all that he has acquired because of it. In Claudius’ and Hamlet’s soliloquies, Shakespeareuses religious imagery and a motif of morality to show Cladius’ and Hamlet’ssimilar desires to be righteous and their conflicts when faced with deep religious uncertainty.
The most essential comparative piece to these two soliloquies is that while the men have no direct, visual audience, they are directing their prayers and commentary to God indirectly or directly. Both men look to the values of righteousness to seek permission for primal urges in their searches for either power or revenge. Hamlet’s opening line of “Ay, so God be w’ye”, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave, shows the audience that Hamlet is sending God away with them but also curses that he is a “rogue and peasant slave” to fate and to the religious ideal of righteousness (II.ii.532-533). The specific diction Shakespeare uses of rogue shows that Hamlet feels without any direction, especially once his father’s apparition has left him. While the diction of “peasant slave” displays Hamlet’s lower stature following the rise of Cladius and the manner in which he was thrust into being a subject of fate and retribution (II.ii.533). Cladius is, meanwhile, looking for justification of his wrongdoing and seeking a definite notion that he is immoral in the eyes of God, seen in his line, “what form of prayer/Can serve my point ‘Forgive me my foul murder?’” (II.ii.532). Shakespeare uses the verbal irony of the question to show that Cladius is aware that his wrongdoing is beyond the simple act of forgiveness and would, in a way, be corrupting forgiveness itself. Both characters are questioning the truth behind their moral obligations, aswhile Hamlet is talking to himself partially in a frenzied madness he is also questioning morality, including “Am I a coward?” which shows his utter confusion as to what his right path is (II.ii.555). Similarly, Cladius frequently uses questions to display his uncertainty towards God and his own beliefs. When Cladius asks God if his repentance could wash his sin “white as snow,” Shakespeare uses a simile to create a motif of purity to juxtapose the guilt within Cladius’ repentence (III.iii.46). Shakespeare also uses the idea that Cladius’ repentance will only bring a temporary, fleeting purity, the same way that snow is only a temporary state. Cladius’ repeated use of questions shows the ambiguity of religion and the lack of definite answers in terms of morality which drives the plot.
Hamlet and Cladius are very similar in the idea that they are seeking the confirmation of another force to absolve their guilt. Hamlet looks to Cladius to show his guilt and allow Hamlet to kill Cladius with a clear conscience. Cladius looks to the angels and heaven to permit him the ability to bow and be forgiven of his sins. Hamlet shows in the line “prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell” that he believes his revenge is morally permissible and the diction of “and” instead of “or” shows that Hamlet believes he has the potential to be damned but is also bound by his heavenly duty and fate to avenge his father (II.ii.570). This idea is revisited many times throughout the play as Hamlet struggles with the idea that he is morally obligated to avenge the, then, supposed murder of his father, as the ghost put it, “if thou didst ever thy dear father love” (I.v.23). With the allusion to Hecuba, Hamlet is also displaying his need to protect and longing for a more loving maternal figure in his life. With the lines “he would drown the stage with tears/And cleave the general ear with horrid speech”, in reference to Hecuba and the players ability to portray true emotions beyond his actual emotional ties to the figure, Shakespeare uses metaphor to illustrate the emotional connection that Hamlet is searching for with his mother and his perceived inadequacy at accomplishing similar raging passion to the players (II.ii.545-546). Shakespeare uses irony and humor in the later part of the line to show Hamlet’s glorification of the player’s drama in contrast to his own inability to follow through. Cladius has a similar conflict in that begs to “bow, stubborn knees” and overcome his inability to ask for repentance. The key difference is that Cladius is aware of the sins he has committed and feels unable to achieve forgiveness while Hamlet feels he will not need forgiveness and is only stopped by his own impotence. While Hamlet believes that revenge is the best route to salvation for his father and self, ultimately both Hamlet and Cladius are very concerned about the wellbeing of their souls. Shakespeare uses a motif of soul and damnation within Hamlet’s monologue to show Hamlet’s belief that if he wrongfully kills Cladius he would be damned.
It is evident that Cladius fears being damned as Cladius is characterized as losing his faith in his own morality and that of the church through his soliloquy. Although it was already clear when he committed murder that he was not morally righteous by common standards, his characterization undergoes a shift as he questions the sanctity of repentance when he states, “I am still possessed/Of those effects for which I did the murder,/My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen” and looks critically about what he has gained through his sin (III.iii.53-55). Shakespeare uses lists at this point to show the magnitude of what Cladius has gained through sin and the incapability of Cladius to surrender those articles. The shift is in the idea that Cladius is realizing that he has sinned and is now faced with a moral dilemma as he faces damnation while looking upon his winnings. As a result, Cladius becomes disillusioned with the church, bringing up through metaphor the immorality of the church itself with “corrupted currents of this world” using a “gilded hand” to “shove by justice”(III.iii.57-58). Contrastingly, within Hamlet’s soliloquy there is a motif of slaves, “whore”s, and “scullion”s (II.ii.571-573). Shakespeare uses this contrasting diction to highlight that while Cladius has the physical belongings and is the “gilded hand” that he disdains, gaining excessive virtue due to the great chain of being, he lacks the perceived moral righteousness that Hamlet believes he has a right to(III.iii.58). Hamlet compares himself to a “whore” and “a scullion” to criticize himself because of his unwillingness to commit the murder but also to compare the stations of himself and the “remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless” king, Cladius (II.ii.571-573, 566).
Throughout the play there is an intense struggle between salvation and damnation. Both Cladius and Hamlet want to achieve salvation but their need for power or revenge is working against that goal. Cladius’ inability to achieve this salvation fully is shown in the last lines of the scene “Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (III.iii.98). Cladius goes through a battle with himself, his previous actions, and religion in his soliloquy where he brings up his own perception of righteousness, morality, and forgiveness. Hamlet, similarly, goes through a battle with himself and religion but is struggling against his own incapability to commit murder and his own moral reservations. While neither could be considered moral in any sense, Hamletis based around a world of people whose religions are dependent upon their own perceptions of religion and morality. This, ultimately, means that to find forgiveness or justice one must first know what forgiveness and justice requires for themselves which leads to intense moral and religious conflict within the characters.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William, Burton Raffel, and Harold Bloom.Hamlet. New Haven: Yale UP, 2003. Print.