Hamlet; the Noir Adaption 2023 Act 3 Scene 3 Sub Scene 2

 Act Three

Act Three Scene Three

Sub Scene Two.

Claudius took to the side of the bedding he shared with Gertrude. It was the same frame that he retained of the old King, like the chair he seats as Emperor. He wanted to go onto his knees as if he was in the bedtime prayer but remained standing there with his head bowed.

“O’ God, hear my prayer,” Claudius spoke to God. “I had not done this for a long time. Let me stand for I am unsure of what I am to do.” ”

Claudius then felt the scent of the King then. There were so many items in the castle that was the King’s and he found no heart to archive them or at best, to auction them. Not even the sheets on the bedding, where he had spent himself with the lover of his.

“O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,” Claudius sighed. “A brother’s murder done. He was a brother to me, we grew from nothing, and yet I am always in his shadow, when I should excel, I remained as so.”

“Pray can I not, though the inclination is 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.” Claudius does not deny his reluctance to move on; he was bound by another.

“What if this cursèd hand 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 offense?”Claudius regretted his act. It will be the blemish in his soul. He seeks redemption but will redemption be given?

“And what’s in prayer but this twofold force, to be forestallèd ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned being down?” Claudius still searches within himself. “Then I’ll look up. Only you can help me.”

“My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? Forgive me for my foul murder? That cannot be, since I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, mine own ambition, and …. my queen.” Claudius finally spoke of the cause of the murder. It was for Gertrude and the wealth there.

A confession was given.

“May one be pardoned and retain the offense? In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offense’s gilded hand may shove by justice, and oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itself
buys out the law.” Such was justice in the world, wealth can push aside any doubts or vice.

“But ’tis not so above: there is no shuffling; there the action lies in his true nature, and we compelled, even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, to give in evidence. What then? What rests?” Claudius knew in his soul, he will not evade the judgment on death.

“Try what repentance can. What can it not? Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?” Claudius mocked repentance as he felt it was not attainable at all. “O wretched state! O bosom black as death! O limèd soul, that, struggling to be free, art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay.”

Claudius looked to the Angels for their deliverance but none came. His confession was unheard or …unforgiven. He needs to be more …deserving. He needs to be humble in his prayer.

“Bow, stubborn knees and heart with strings of steel be soft as sinews of the newborn babe. All may be well.” Claudius went on his knees. “For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father.” (Ephesians 3:14)

The Emperor had removed his clothes then.

Unseen by the Emperor who in his prayer, Hamlet entered the chamber. He had thought to see his mother there but found the Emperor in prayer on his knees. He paused to look at the figure deep in his prayers.

“Does he pray to God, or on his knees to seek forgiveness from the King?” Hamlet muttered.

“Now might I do it pat, now he is a-praying, and now I’ll do ’t. If I draw the sword. and so he goes to heaven, and so am I revenged? That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.”

“Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge. He took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; and how his audit stands who knows to save heaven. But in our circumstance and course of thought is heavy with him.”

“And am I then revenged to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No! It’s a more horrid hent.” Hamlet refuses to do it then. He felt that killing will demean his revenge, for to have killed a man while in talks with God, for whatever he was telling God, it was unjust killing to take the other’s life.

“I shall take him when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in …. th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed, at the 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. I shall not be Macbeth hath murdered sleep.”

“I shall seek my mother in the personal chamber.” Hamlet exits. “When I take my vengeance, I shall sleep better.”

Claudius rose from his prayer form.

“My words fly up, and my thoughts remain below; alike Heaven Hell apart. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” Claudius decides to take the wine by the table.

“I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety” (Henry V: Act 3, Scene 2)