act 3

• "A villain has killed my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven?"

  
  

  Hamlet believes that by killing Claudius while he is praying will send the kings soul to heaven. He decides to wait until he catches him committing a sin so that he can send him to hell. This is hubris: Hamlet may be justified in avenging his father, but he has no right to decide the fate of Claudius soul. He completely oversteps the bounds of Christian morality. Hamlet has once again avoided the imperative to act by involving himself in a problem of knowledge.
• "Heaven hath pleased it so, To punish me with this and this with me"

  
  

  Though Hamlet has not achieved his vengeance upon Claudius, he believes that God has used him as a tool of vengeance to punish Polonius sins and punish Hamlets sins by staining his soul with murder
• Hamlet’s inner battle is further continued as we reach Act 3, the most famous, as many critics would agree, quote in Hamlet, is found in a soliloquy from Hamlet himself, where he once again frames the idea of his desire to live or die.
• "To be or not to be, that is the question"

  
  

  The entire soliloquy strongly suggests that he is toying with suicide again, and perhaps is trying to work up his courage to do it. But at no point does he state that he is in pain or discusses why he wants to kill himself. In fact, he never says “I” or “me” in the entire speech. He’s not trying to express himself at all ; instead, he poses the question as a matter of philosophical debate. This creates the general impression that there are definitely things going on in Hamlets mind that he can’t process directly.
• In Act 3, the climax, we come upon Hamlet with the perfect opportunity to commit regicide, and finally kill Claudius, ending their conflict. However, instead of going to Claudius and killing him, Hamlet stays back and again ponders on whether this is a good time to go forward with his plan.