Hamlet's Sixth Soliloquy

Background
Hamlet's Sixth Soliloquy falls in Act 3, Scene 3. The basis of this scene is formed when the
play has been abandoned and skipped by the guilty King Claudius. Hamlet planned the play
deliberately, so as to catch the conscious of the King and to find if he indeed killed his father
and the dead soul was right in his blame. Now, Hamlet has found the truth and intends to
kill the villain who killed Prince Hamlet's father.

1st lines

Now might I do it pat now he is praying,

And now I'll do it, and so he goes to heaven

End lines

As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays,

This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.

Summary and Explanation

In Act 3, Scene 3, we observe the sixth soliloquy of Hamlet. It arrives soon after, when he
sees the King Claudius and draws a naked sword to kill him. He comes with such intentions
but restrains himself when the thought arises in his mind that by killing the murderer King,
while he is in the act of praying and seeking forgiveness for his sins, will send him directly to
Heaven and this, according to Hamlet, will not be revenge. Hamlet’s thinks that as he is the
sole son of his dead father, and his aim is to seek revenge and fulfill the promise of his
father’s murder. He says that it will be unfair if he himself sends the murderer of his father
straight to heaven and that will be no revenge at all.
Hamlet thinks that King Claudius killed his father in a state, when there was no reason for
God to wave his sins and misdeeds, and Hamlet’s father must have paid or paying the
divine penalty of his crimes and sins. Now to kill Claudius in a position, where his sins will
be ignored and he will be sent straight to heaven is no revenge at all. Hence, Hamlet
decides not to fulfill his task this time. He tells himself to wait for an opportunity and kill the
King when he is “drunk, asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at
gaming, swearing or about some act that has no relish of salvation in it.”
In this way, when the King Claudius will be killed, he will have to pay for his sins and
misdeeds, and will be totally accountable for his crimes and that will justify the act of
revenge and the promise the Prince Hamlet made to his beloved, dead father.