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Differences between hamlet and laertes
The detailed character analysis of hamlet
Similarity between Laertes and Hamlet
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No two individuals are alike. Each individual evolves with his or her own equines, style, and way of life. Hamlet and Laertes experienced similar childhoods, and shared similar family attributes. They were both born into royalty and throughout their lives were treated like that. Hamlet and Laertes were taught to abide by the same ethics and morals. Although Hamlet and Laertes seem to be twined regarding family, royalty, and school, they were not. One example is when Hamlet and Laertes were consumed by a very basic characteristic, that of revenge. Hamlet and Laertes were very similar in most respects that differ from Laertes, which is driven by passion and Hamlet is driven by reason (Studymoose).
Hamlet is Prince of the Kingdom of Denmark, the son of King Hamlet. Hamlet is the protagonist of the play who is portrayed as someone with a quick temper who acts without
His father Polonius, who died because of Hamlet, accidentally, is a counselor to King Claudius and his sister Ophelia is courted by Prince Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Laertes lost his father and he begins to suspect King Claudius to be the cause of his death. Laertesis is sensible in understanding and directing his sister, Ophelia, towards doing the right thing. He makes her convince that it is a mismatch and princes like Hamlet would not be quite a good match for someone like her; Laertes is also known as one who seeks his sister’s best interest (difference between).
Laertes is different because he is not as introspective and willing to reflect, he just wants to get things done. Laertes, on the other hand, is willing to kill Claudius, which is considered a safe haven of God; Hamlet is unwilling to kill Claudius when he seen him praying. Hamlet shows how the army of Fortinbras is so willing to walk into their graves over something as insignificant as a small plot of land while he’s not able to carry out his revenge, which is something that he believes is justified
The first foil or character that sets off Hamlet, in the play is Laertes. After King Hamlet's death, he, along with Prince Hamlet, return to Denmark for the funeral services. That is the first sign that Laertes will become a foil to Hamlet in the play. Both Laertes and Hamlet are very fond of Laertes' sister, Ophelia, which is the second similarity of the two. Another similarity of Laertes and Hamlet is the father figure of each, Polonius to Laertes and Claudius to Hamlet, has someone to watch them to see if they are acting accordingly. [accordingly?] In act two, scene one, Polonius instructs Reynaldo to go to Paris to give Laertes money and messages, and to find other Danes that will give him gossip about Laertes. In act two, scene two, Claudius instructs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out why Hamlet is acting so strangely. The next similarity of Laertes and Hamlet is that they both grieve over a death in the play. Laertes grieves the death of Ophelia, while Hamlet grieves over his father, King Hamlet's death. The final similarity of Laertes and Hamlet is that both seek revenge for the death of their fathers. Laertes wishes to kill Hamlet after Hamlet murders Polonius and Hamlet wants to kill Claudius for the murder of King Hamlet. Both succeed in their quest for revenge.
One of the foils important to the play is Laertes. Although Laertes does not appear often in the play, he brings much to the plot and to Hamlet's character. These two are similar in many ways. They both seem to be about the same age, are well educated, and gentleman. One main thing that they have in common is they both are seeking revenge for their father's deaths. Both of their fathers were unnecessarily killed. Hamlet's father was killed by his father's brother for the crown and his wife, and Hamlet killed Laertes' father over mistaken identity. It was the revenge of these two that made up the plot of the story. Because of Laertes, the two could finally fulfill their revenge in the battle at the end that killed both Hamlet and the new king. If Laertes had not challenged Hamlet, the king would have died by some other way; however, the king died by poisoning just as he had killed his brother.
In Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” Hamlet and Laertes act as dramatic foils, where their similarities are used to highlight their differences. Each character learns that his father has been murdered and each plots his revenge against the murderer. In the first act of the play, the ghost of Hamlet’s father tells him “Let not
The major foil for Hamlet is Laertes, the son of Polonius. The most obvious similarity is that they are both young men. They also come from relatively similar backgrounds, a Danish aristocratic upbringing. They also both have some college education. This leads us to another similarity; [Semicolons vs. colons] they both have the ability to use logical and rational reasoning. However, they do differ on their applications of logical reasoning.
Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are similar in the fact that each had love, or at least respect their fathers. Enough to make an attempt to wreak revenge upon their fathers murderers at the risk of their own reputation, freedom, and souls. Each characters father had a substantially high social class in their respective countries, which in turn gives them high social class as well. With Hamlet and Fortinbras as sons of kings and Laertes as the son of an aristocrat of high regard in the Danish court, all had a lot to loose if unsuccessful in their ploy. Each of the sons believed that the killers had dishonored their fathers as well as themselves. Each acts in a way that they consider to be an attempt at restoring it to the family, as honor was a significant thing to uphold in this day.
Laertes’ main decision in Hamlet was how to seek revenge on Prince Hamlet for killing Polonius. There are seven steps to the decision-making process. First, Laertes had to identify the decision that had to be made. Laertes did follow this step by looking for a solution of his father’s death. Next, Laertes should have gathered information relevant to his situation. Instead of this step, Laertes automatically assumed that he had to kill someone without knowing what really happened to Polonius. Then, Laertes should have identified his alternatives of the decision. Laertes did not explore alternative in the play. He immediately met with the king and decided to kill Prince Hamlet without looking at different ways to approach the situation. After exploring alternatives, Laertes should have weighed the evidence of the situation. The only evidence that Laertes had was the king’s word that Hamlet...
Laertes, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. He was all action and no talk. A very headstrong character, he was rash and let his emotions make his decisions for him. an example of this is when he finds out about his father's death, he immediately assumes it was Claudius and enters the castle by force, fully intending on killing him. This is what Hamlet needs to be like, but only in moderation. Sometimes, when the time calls for it, you must act on instinct, without having to think it through for a couple of days. Hamlet didn't want to be brash and end up getting killed like Laertes did, but then again, Laertes did avenge his father's death a lot faster than Hamlet did. And in spite of all the thinking and planning, Hamlet still ended up the same way that Laertes did.
Later, in Polonius’ house, Laertes is taking leave of his sister, Ophelia, and, in the process, giving her conservative advice regarding her boyfriend, Hamlet.
Laertes has the ability to perform tasks that may be unpleasant or dangerous. Laertes does not simply try to kill someone by thinking cautiously the whole time, but by directly confronting them and facing them head-on. When Laertes returns home to Denmark he even confronts Claudius about the death of his father. Swearing Laertes says “I dare damnation. To this point I stand,/That both the worlds I give to negligence,/Let come what comes, only I’ll be reveng’d/Most thoroughly for my father.” (IV. v. 133-136). With this declaration Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet and they construct a plan to have Laertes fence with Hamlet and for him to kill him. They instrument a plot of revenge for the death of Polonius, quickly coming up with three ways to kill Hamlet: stabbing him with an unblunted sword, placing poison on the sword, and poisoning Hamlet’s drink (IV. vii.). After they construct this plan they swiftly utilize the plan. Laertes did not wait for the perfect moment, at the perfect time, and at the perfect place. He created the place, time, and moment to carry out the dangerous task. Hamlet, however, waited and waited for what he thought one day would be the perfect moment in which he could kill his uncle. Even when Hamlet had an opportunity to kill Claudius, he talked himself out of it. When compared to Laertes, Hamlet is a coward because of his inability
"Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Shakespeare has made them similar in many aspects to provide a greater base for comparison when avenging their respective fathers' deaths" (Nardo, 90). Both Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia in different ways. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to become his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg; Laertes is also a scholar at France. Both were brought up under this royal family of Denmark. And both are admired for their swordsmenship. But most important of all, both of them loved and respected their fathers greatly, and showed great devotion when plotting to avenge their fathers' deaths.
Each man deals with grief in extremely distinct manners, when looking at Laertes in comparison to Hamlet you can swiftly see their great contrast to one another. Hamlet would rather create reason before madness; he is the type to use his brain before his fist. Whereas Laertes is always caught up in his anger that he sees no means to absolve the actions of others.
In William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras and Hamlet find themselves in similar situations. While Hamlet waits for the right time to avenge his father's death, Laertes learns of his father's death and immediately wants vengeance, and Fortinbras awaits his chance to recapture land that used to belong to his father. Laertes and Fortinbras go about accomplishing their desires quite differently than Hamlet. While Hamlet acts slowly and carefully, Laertes and Fortinbras seek their revenge with haste. Although Laertes and Fortinbras are minor characters, Shakespeare molds them in order to contrast with Hamlet. Fortinbras and, to a greater extent, Laertes act as foils to Hamlet with respect to their motives for revenge, execution of their plans and behavior while carrying out their plans.
Another way in which the two are similar is in the way that they use their intellect to manipulate others. This can be seen in Claudius when he manipulates Laertes into agreeing to kill Hamlet. Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet is not only the one responsible for his father’s death but he is responsible the death of his sister Ophelia. This can also be seen when Claudius gets Hamlets friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to work for him and on Hamlet. Hamlet’s manipulation skills can be seen in his plan to use a play that reenacts the murder of his father as a way to get Claudius to reveal his guilt. Another instance where Hamlet uses his manipulation skills to his advantage is when he changes Claudius’s orders from putting him to death to putting both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to death.
He has the ability to perform tasks that may be unpleasant or dangerous. Laertes does not simply try to kill someone by thinking cautiously the whole time, but by directly confronting them and facing them head-on. When Laertes returns home to Denmark he even confronts Claudius about the death of his father. Swearing Laertes says “I dare damnation. To this point I stand,/That both the worlds I give to negligence,/Let come what comes, only I’ll be reveng’d/Most throughly for my father.” (IV. v. 133-136). With this declaration Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet and they construct a plan to have Laertes fence with Hamlet and for him to kill him. They instrument a plot of revenge for the death of Polonius, quickly coming up with three ways to kill Hamlet: stabbing him with an unblunted sword, placing poison on the sword, and poisoning Hamlet’s drink (IV. vii.). After they construct this plan they swiftly utilize the plan. Laertes did not wait for the perfect moment, at the perfect time, and at the perfect place. He created the place, time, and moment to carry out the dangerous task. Hamlet, however, waited and waited for what he thought one day would be the perfect moment in which he could kill his uncle. Even when Hamlet had an opportunity to kill Claudius, he talked himself out of it. When compared to Laertes, Hamlet is a coward because of his inability to
”(153) It becomes clear that the parallels presented throughout the play are there to further illuminate the flaws of Hamlet’s character. Laertes is a hot-headed man looking for revenge. His father was killed by Hamlet and his sister was driven insane due to the series of events that took place because of Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Laertes wants to avenge his father by killing the man who killed Polonius.