The eternal fate of the human soul is an obvious theme in Act III, especially since Hamlet's whole soliloquy is about the pros and cons of death. Then, to add to Hamlet's musings on eternity and the state of the human soul, Claudius has a large soliloquy of his own where he attempts to come to terms with the unethical murder of his brother. Hamlet's entire speech focuses on what is better, death or the misery of life. He also speaks about how uncertain death is and how frightening it is for the living because none of them honestly know what is beyond. I think that Hamlet not killing Claudius because he thinks he is praying is an enormous ironic symbol for religion itself. Claudius, though inadvertently, protects himself from harm by putting up what turns out to be a facade of piousness. Hamlet doesn't kill Claudius and actually never even gets close to him because he truly believes that Claudius is being devout. I think Shakespeare was trying to say something through this; Christians often appear to be holy and pure and because of this they avoid harm and are blessed with good fortune, while in reality they are never better than anyone else.
xoxo, Cantore Slug
xoxo, Cantore Slug
I agree with what you said about Shakespeare's success in characterizing the facade that many Christians put up to protect themselves. I find it fascinating that the idea of Christian hypocrisy has been for so long, and is to this day, such a common notion in literature. Shakespeare and Flannery O'Connor should collaborate! Shakery O'Connspeare!-Sam Slug
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