Murder-Induced Repentance // Moriah Nelson
Full disclosure, I’ve never read through a screenplay or script without having to memorize lines for a play or musical (i.e. for fun), but I have really loved reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the middle of Act III, we find King Claudius struggling with conviction and guilt and here I see a beautiful opportunity to look at the Gospel and see how the medieval and renaissance societies viewed God, repentance, and grace.
King Claudius knew the horrific act he had committed in murdering his brother and was so ashamed that he could not bring himself to pray at first. He cries,
“-Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent.” (Scene III, lines 37-39)
Claudius also knows that for him to truly repent he would have to change his whole life as he now has a kingdom and wife as a result of his sin. As he says,
“Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it when one can not repent?” (Scene III, lines 65-66)
I was honestly impressed to read such a clear understanding of repentance. It is so easy to recognize sin, ask God for forgiveness, but not change our lifestyle so we eventually “fall” back into the sin we had confessed. To repent is to confess and go in the opposite direction. I think Claudius understood this and his preparation of his heart before his prayer shows just how devout some people were in his time. It also shows how fear of the Lord can be lived out in our prayer life. How often do we rush into prayer (even when asking for forgiveness) without contemplating the fact that we are talking to the God who made the entirety of creation?
At this point in the reading, I liked Claudius better than Hamlet even though the king had committed so many sins and has yet, in the play, to show if his heart is truly changed. Finally, I came to 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 in studying grief over sin:
“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
Was Claudius displaying godly grief in his inner wrestling over his sin? I really hope so because I am 100% here for some true repentance in this play.
I commented on Katie and Zelda's posts.
I commented on Katie and Zelda's posts.
Hah, we somehow blogged on the same lines at the same time!
ReplyDeleteMy issue with Claudius' prayer is that he says himself that he can't ask for forgiveness without actually changing his life to reflect that by renouncing everything he's gained. He knows how hard it is for the rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, but we don't get much indication that he's willing to do anything about it. This basically happened in both of the other two Shakespeare plays I've read, where murderers eventually stop and say "Okay, that was wrong and it will haunt me forever," but they're never willing to do anything about it. I've got a grim outlook for Claudius because of that. There's a very distinct line between repenting of sin and simply confessing it out of a guilty conscience. Human nature might be inclined to confess thanks to the moral compass God gave us, but if repenting were so simple, our church attendance would probably be much higher.
I mean, I can see where you're coming from but something about Claudius just doesn't stick right with me... I can't tell exactly what but there is something about him that has me not wanting to forgive him or move on from the fact that he murdered, covered it, married his brother's wife in no time at all, and overall seems like a jerk. but, for the sake of understanding, he did make a very human point in his prayer... I mean, repentance IS hard when guilt is high.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about true repentance and how we have to turn away from our sin. However, I think the point here is that Claudius isn't doing that. Maybe it was because I watched Hamlet before I read it (the David Tennant version Schuler showed in class), but Claudius seems very false to me. Perhaps Patrick Stewart just portrayed him that way, but I don't think Claudius ever plans to truly repent. I think his prayer is motivated by the fear of being caught rather than true repentance.
ReplyDeleteI would not have thought about these lines this way had you to written this. So thank you for that. I love how Claudius thought about his repentance, like you said. It was not an immediate thing. I also feel that because there was this amount of thought and agony behind his repentance then it will be more sincere and real. I guess we will see!
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