...murder. 58 Lady Macbeth is also anticipated when Claudius considers the irrevocability of his sin: "What if this cursed hand / Were thicker than itself...in the sweet heavens / To wash it white as snow?" (3.3.43-6), although the notion that a huge amount of water will not wash away a stain is proverbial,...

...is called to "accompt." The physician here might well invoke the stricken Claudius from Hamlet, who, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. (3.3.41-43) And like Claudius who prays but cannot pray, the physician can only conclude and not conclude....