Why is claudius having trouble praying

Hamlet slips quietly into the room and steels himself to kill the unseeing Claudius. Hamlet decides to wait, resolving to kill Claudius when the king is sinning—when he is either drunk, angry, or lustful. He leaves. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.

See Important Quotes Explained. When Claudius prays, the audience is given real certainty that Claudius murdered his brother: a full, spontaneous confession, even though nobody else hears it. This only heightens our sense that the climax of the play is due to arrive. But Hamlet waits. In his The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud remarks:. Thus the loathing, which should drive him on to revenge, is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scruples of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish.

This is what makes it impossible for Hamlet to kill Claudius. The strength of his id is stronger than his superego, especially since his superego King Hamlet is dead. Hamlet remarks to the ghost, this revealing his guilty conscience of both his desire and delay:. O, say! Do not forget! This visitation Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. In Act 5, Scene 3, Hamlet does kill Claudius. What makes Hamlet finally kill Claudius after so long?

Hamlet is finally able to kill Claudius because Gertrude has now died. So he finds himself at an impasse. Whereto serves mercy But to confront the visage of offence? But, O, what form of prayer Can serve my turn?

Is it even possible for us to be forgiven for something while we hold on to the fruits of our crimes? What then? No, before God we ourselves become our own worst witness, having to testify or give evidence against ourselves.

O wretched state! He expects to spend eternity in hell. Hamlet enters as the King kneels with his back toward Hamlet. Hamlet reaches for his sword, and the ambiguity shifts to Hamlet. His Christian morality informs him that because the King appears to pray, he is probably confessing. By ending his life in mid-confession, Hamlet would allow the King to go straight to heaven by virtue of his cleansed soul. Hamlet would prefer to send the King to hell. He has no problem with the immorality of robbing a man of his salvation.

Hamlet is capable of imitating King Claudius' cruelty. Some critics believe that Hamlet vacillates yet again in yet another self-deception of word play. In fact, this moment represents the pivotal point in the play — the moment of truth.