No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 3, scene iii

	Preferences Shopping Cart Checkout Help

Read the Study Guide: Hamlet
Get the book: Buy it online at Barnes & Noble
Tell a friend: Email this page

	ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN
	We will haste us.

ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN

We'll hurry.

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN

ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN exit.

Enter POLONIUS

POLONIUS enters.

	POLONIUS
	My lord, he's going to his mother's closet.
	Behind the arras I'll convey myself
30	To hear the process. I'll warrant she'll tax him home.
	And, as you said (and wisely was it said)
	'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother—
	Since nature makes them partial—should o'erhear
	The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege.
35	I'll call upon you ere you go to bed
	And tell you what I know.

POLONIUS

My lord, Hamlet's going to his mother's room. I'll hide behind the tapestry to hear what they say. I bet she'll chew him out. And as you said (and you said it wisely), it's good to have someone other than a mother listening in on them, since she can be too partial to him. Goodbye, my lord. I'll stop by before you go to bed, and tell you what I've heard.

	CLAUDIUS
	Thanks, dear my lord.

CLAUDIUS

Thanks, my dear lord.

Exit POLONIUS

POLONIUS exits.

	Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven.
	It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't,
	A brother's murder. Pray can I not.
40	Though inclination be as sharp as will,
	My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
	And, like a man to double business bound,
	I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
	And both neglect. What if this cursèd hand
45	Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
	Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
	To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
	But to confront the visage of offence?
	And what's in prayer but this twofold force,
50	To be forestallèd ere we come to fall
	Or pardoned being down? Then I'll look up.
	My fault is past. But oh, what form of prayer
	Can serve my turn, “Forgive me my foul murder”?

Oh, my crime is so rotten it stinks all the way to heaven. It has the mark of Cain on it, a brother's murder. I can't pray, though I want to desperately. My guilt is stronger even than my intentions. And like a person with two opposite things to do at once, I stand paralyzed and neglect them both. So what if this cursed hand of mine is coated with my brother's blood? Isn't there enough rain in heaven to wash it clean as snow? Isn't that what God's mercy is for? And doesn't prayer serve these two purposes—to keep us from sinning and to bring us forgiveness when we have sinned? So I'll pray. I've already committed my sin. But, oh, what kind of prayer is there for me? “Dear Lord, forgive me for my horrible murder”?


IPOD SPARKNOTES Read SparkNotes on your iPod. More...	Study Guides Learn more about the subject you're studying with these related SparkNotes. Hamlet	Message Boards Ask a question on the SparkNotes community boards. Hamlet Shakespeare Staging Shakespeare's Plays	SparkCharts Printable, portable charts on this subject. Shakespeare

Help | Feedback | Make a request | Report an error | Send to a friend

101 Literature includes everything you need to know about the 150 most-studied works of literature.
More...

SparkNotes Greek Classics is a comprehensive guide to the major and minor works of ancient Greece.
More...