(6)+Now+might+I+do+it,+now+he+is+a-praying...


 * (6th soliloquy-- Act 3, Scene 3, lines 77-103, Folger Edition)**

//INTRODUCTION://

//Before this soliloquy, Hamlet is on his way to see his mother in order to "speak daggers." As Hamlet is on his way he sees his uncle, King Claudius, upset and kneeling down and praying. Desiring revenge, Hamlet draws his sword. However, seeing his uncle praying quickly sparks another line of thought, which once again halts any type of action in this scene.//

//ANNOTATED SOLILOQUY: //

**Hamlet:**

**Now might I do it (pat,) now he is a-praying, And now I‘ll do’t: //[He draws his sword.]// and so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scann’d: 80 A villain kills my father; and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. ** With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands who knows save heaven? But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘Tis heavy with him: and I then revenged,** When he is fit and season’d for his passage? No. Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent****:** **//[He sheathes his sword.]// **
 * He took my father grossly, full of bread, 85
 * To take him in the purging of his soul, 90

//Hamlet wishes that his Uncle die in a similar way to his father, "a more horrible occasion," than while praying.//

Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, 95 At gaming, 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 damn’d and black As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays: 100 This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. //[Hamlet exits.]//**
 * When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,

//Hamlet plans to catch his uncle in a fallacious act so as much as he wants to go to heaven, he will rightfully go to hell. This will be true revenge for Hamlet.// //Hamlet wants to see his uncle in a sinful act so he will go to hell. This will be the revenge Hamlet always longed for.//

80. **would be scanned:** i.e., needs to be examined 84. **hire and salary:** i.e., something Claudius should pay me for 85. **grossly, full of bread:** in the full enjoyment of the world (See Ezekiel 16.49: “Pride fullness of break, and abundance of idleness.”) 87. **audit:** final account 89. **heavy with him:** i.e., his spirit is in a serious condition 90. **him:** i.e., Claudius 93. **know thou a more horrid hent:** i.e., wait for a more horrible occasion 100. **stays:** waits 101. **This physic:** this medicine (i.e., this postponement of the killing; or, Claudius’s purging of himself through prayer)

//CONCLUSION: //  //While at the beginning of this scene Hamlet was longing to kill his uncle, after this soliloquy, Hamlet convinces himself to hold off. He wishes that his uncle die the same type of death as his father, unexpected and horrid. This is exemplified in Hamlet's mentioning that his father died before he had the opportunity to repent for his sins. He doesn't want his uncle to go to heaven after praying, but to go to hell for incest and murder. This would be true revenge for Hamlet, or so he believes.

This scene is extremely important in understanding Hamlet. He does not want to kill just to kill. There is more meaning behind it. Hamlet wants revenge for his father's death as well as for "stealing" his mother away from him. Instead of killing Claudius now, by doing it when he is not expecting it as well as with clear intention shown to all, Hamlet plans to get the true revenge he longs for.//