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Relation of religion with “HAMLET” Claudius's murder of King Hamlet, the act catalyzing the drama of the play, is presented as a sin of primordial character and cosmic implications. Claudius confesses that his fratricide parallels the murder of Abel: O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder (3.3.36-38). Hamlet's description of his psychological condition at the beginning of the play pushes the imagery back to the beginning of biblical history: How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on 't! Ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely (1.2.135-37). Claudius has not only committed fratricide, but regicide. The king being peculiarly the image of God, regicide is a kind of deicide. At least, it is an act of rebellion against divine authority. Claudius is thus not only Cain but Adam.[7] Claudius's sin has, for Hamlet at least, turned Denmark into a fallen Eden; thorns and thistles dominate the landscape. The ghost's description of the murder confirms that Edenic motifs are in the background:[8] Now, Hamlet, hear: 'Tis given out that, sleepi