Regret is something I think all humans being have experienced. Even if it is in the dumbest situations, everyone can think of something, and say to themselves why didn’t I do that or why did I. There are different ways to deal with it, you can do something to change what you did or in some cases you have to deal with it. I have regretted many things in my life but I have my conscious clean because I have done things to make it better. Reading Hamlet, I thought about Claudius and how he deals with the fact that he killed his brother to marry his wife and become king. Not one time on the book does he express feelings of regret or guilt.
Then I thought about the difference between guilt and regret. The dictionary says they are basically the same thing except that guilt is more commonly known when someone does something and violates a rule, so not everyone has felt guilty. Going back to Claudius, he is obviously guilty and he knows that but he does not seem to care. Until act 3 scene 3:
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be 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. What if this cursed 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 offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?(Act3Scene3)
This is one of the few times if not the only one that he comes clean about what he did. When Polonius goes to eaves drop on the conversation between Hamlet and his mother, Claudius tries to pray. He first says what he did and then realizes he can’t pray because he still wants the prize that came with the sin. This is when the difference between guilt and regret is seen. He does feel guilty, but can’t pray because he does not feel regret. he never expresses that he wishes he had not killed his brother. He knows it was a crime, something he should not have done, but he can’t ask for forgiveness because he does not want to and in some ways knows he does not deserve it. He states it clearly:
“O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,”
He still wants the crown and Gertrude so that’s that. There is anything else that can be done. He admits that the committed a crime but also recognizes that even though he is guilty there is nothing that can be done. He still wants the prize, there is no remorse or sorrow in what he did. If this were different and Claudius would have felt shame Hamlet would have been a different story, and he would have don’t something about his mistake. But that is not that case he still want the power. And we learn the difference between guilt and regret thanks to Claudius.
Then I thought about the difference between guilt and regret. The dictionary says they are basically the same thing except that guilt is more commonly known when someone does something and violates a rule, so not everyone has felt guilty. Going back to Claudius, he is obviously guilty and he knows that but he does not seem to care. Until act 3 scene 3:
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be 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. What if this cursed 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 offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?(Act3Scene3)
This is one of the few times if not the only one that he comes clean about what he did. When Polonius goes to eaves drop on the conversation between Hamlet and his mother, Claudius tries to pray. He first says what he did and then realizes he can’t pray because he still wants the prize that came with the sin. This is when the difference between guilt and regret is seen. He does feel guilty, but can’t pray because he does not feel regret. he never expresses that he wishes he had not killed his brother. He knows it was a crime, something he should not have done, but he can’t ask for forgiveness because he does not want to and in some ways knows he does not deserve it. He states it clearly:
“O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,”
He still wants the crown and Gertrude so that’s that. There is anything else that can be done. He admits that the committed a crime but also recognizes that even though he is guilty there is nothing that can be done. He still wants the prize, there is no remorse or sorrow in what he did. If this were different and Claudius would have felt shame Hamlet would have been a different story, and he would have don’t something about his mistake. But that is not that case he still want the power. And we learn the difference between guilt and regret thanks to Claudius.
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