And what’s in prayer but this twofold force,—
To be forestallèd ere we come to fall,
Or pardon’d being down? Then I’ll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?
That cannot be; since I am still possess’d
Of these effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition, and my Queen.
May one be pardoned and retain th’ offense?...
—Hamlet, Act iii., Sc. 3.