Hamlet Guilt and Remorse Quotes

I have heard,
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Hamlet has heard that guilty people watching a play have been so affected by the performance that they have confessed their crimes. So he decides to put on such a play for his uncle, to test the truth of the Ghost’s claim that he is his father’s murderer.

The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Hamlet wants to gather more evidence on whether Claudius is guilty of murdering his father, as the Ghost has claimed. So he uses theater to assess the truth and test the guilt of the King. He plans to stage a play about a similar murder and watch his uncle’s reaction to it. An example of dramatic irony, as Claudius, along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern know nothing of Hamlet’s plan to confirm his suspicions about the King.

Oh, ’tis too true!
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word.
O heavy burden!

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. When Polonius says that people act as if they were devoted to God in order to hide their sins, this strikes a nerve with Claudius. This passage is Claudius’ first admission of guilt in the play, likely brought about by the lies piling up all around him. He admits his hypocrisy too, as he speaks of the terrible things he has done and hidden with his "painted word" – lies and deceptions. He has been trying to legitimize his rule by seeming honest, when he is really not. This foreshadows Claudius’ anguished soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 3, when he tries in vain to pray for repentance.

Give me that man
That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet warmly praises Horatio, just before The Mousetrap play-within-a-play is about to begin. Hamlet trusts his friend so much that he confides to him the secret purpose of the play. It contains a scene mirroring the circumstances of Hamlet’s father’s murder, as claimed by the Ghost. Hamlet asks Horatio to watch Claudius’ reaction to see if he shows any signs of guilt.

What! frighted with false fire?

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet asks this of Claudius, when Ophelia announces "The king rises," just it gets to the part of the play where the Player King is poisoned. It is obvious Claudius is displeased and appears to betray his guilt in the poisoning of King Hamlet. The murder of the king in the play has startled Claudius enough for him to stop the play. Hamlet’s remark is ironic because he and the audience know exactly why Claudius is acting the way he is but Hamlet must play ignorant and continue to appear mad.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3. Claudius admits that he has not been praying in earnest, when asking God for forgiveness for his brother’s murder. His words reach to heaven, but his thought are in hell. Ironically Hamlet has just decided not to kill Claudius during prayer because he believes this would despatch his uncle straight to heaven. But he doesn’t realize Claudius’ prayer for forgiveness is false.

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4. Gertrude is lost for words and appears remorseful for marrying Claudius after Hamlet’s accusations. For the first time she realizes the possibility that Claudius murdered her former husband. She promises that she will not reveal to Claudius that Hamlet is not crazy, but pretending to be. She will maintain the lie that she believes her son mad.

What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more…
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do ‘t…
Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4. Hamlet knows there is more to a person’s life than serving one’s bodily desires, otherwise we are no better than animals. He has no excuses for his inaction in revenging his father’s death. The true sign of greatness can be seen in a man who will fight over a trifle when honor is at stake. He guiltily sees his own inaction as something pathetic to be ashamed of. On the other hand he questions the rightness of Fortinbras’ actions, causing the immiment death of 20,000 men for "a fantasy or a trick of fame."
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