In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, many of the central themes in the play are presented using visual means. Act 3, scene 3 includes one of the most prominent imageries in the entire play. This scene is where Hamlet hovers over the praying Claudius who is on his knees, confessing the depth and severity of his crime. The imagery presented in this scene is thematically important because it presents the theme of the significance of religion versus the complexity of taking a corrupt action, a theme that resonates multiple times throughout the course of the play. Both Claudius and Hamlet in this scene are facing internal conflicts that have them torn between their moral codes of conduct and their dominating desires and objectives.
Claudius identifies himself with Cain, a biblical character in Genesis known to be the world’s first person born, who also killed his brother, Abel. Claudius cries on his knees, “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;/ It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t /A brother’s murder.” (3. 3. 84) Cain attempted to
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Hamlet in act 1, scene 5 Hamlet laments his birth: "O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right." (1.5. 34) He wishes he were not born so he can be freed from the burden that avenging his father’s murder inflicts on him. This suggests that he understands how grave of a responsibly this is, and how uncertain he is to pursue it. Later in act 2, scene 2, he criticizes his lack of action and reprimands himself. He compares himself with one of the actors in the arranged play, who had "[t]ears in his eyes" (2.2.58) after the play, suggested he was passionately stirred by the recreation. Hamlet, in contrast, cannot even act to avenge his father’s death. These two other scenes in the play, along with Hamlet’s action and dialogue in Act 3, Scene 3, provide solid evidence of the difficulty and complexity of taking