In Act III, Hamlet is able to act in Scene iv but not in Scene iii because of many reasons. When he sees Claudius kneeling, Hamlet says, “Now I might do it pat, now ‘a is a-praying, / And now I’ll do’t. And so ‘a goes to heaven” (3.3.73-74). He says here that he could easily kill Claudius now while he’s praying, but then Claudius will go to heaven because he is purging his soul and he is “fit and seasoned for his passage” (3.3.86). So Hamlet then says, “Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage…” (3.3.88-89), meaning he’s going to wait for a better moment to kill the king, when his soul is not cleansed and he is doing something horrible instead so that Claudius may not go to heaven. This may also be
