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Hamlet is a victim of circumstances
Hamlet is a victim of circumstances
Importance of laertes in hamlet
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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are multiple times where the protagonist, Hamlet, is portrayed as Laertes, the antagonist. Although, while every character is almost a foil to Hamlet, only a couple stand out over all the other characters. Amongst Laertes, Fortinbras, and Claudius, I’ll be focusing my essay on how Laertes functions as a foil to Hamlet. Laertes is presented with similar catastrophic situations that Hamlet encounters. This is observed when both of them left home, faced the death of their fathers as well as Ophelia’s death. During Act 1, Scene 2, it is acknowledged that Hamlet is returning to England and Laertes asking for consent to France in Act 1, Scene 3. Polonius sends his man, Reynaldo, to Paris to spy on Laertes in Act 2, …show more content…
When Laertes finds out his father, Polonius, died he acted without hesitation whereas Hamlet avenged his fathers’ death by slowly plotting in a step by step manner. During Act 3 Scene 4 (1-9 pg.1), Polonius and Gertrude talk to each other and tells Gertrude to talk to Hamlet while he spies on him. “Lord Polonius: He will come straight. Look you lay home to him: Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screen 'd and stood between Much heat and him. I 'll sconce me even here. Pray you, be round with him. Hamlet: [Within] Mother, mother, mother! Queen Gertrude: I 'll warrant you, Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.” As Hamlet and his mother Gertrude talk they have a little argument and Hamlet says he is upset that she married Claudius. So Gertrude went on to say we shall talk to others as well about this. At this point Hamlet doesn’t want it to be discussed out of the room and when Gertrude tries to leave Hamlet would not let her budge. Gertrude goes on scream help and when Polonius hears he does the same behind the tapestry. Hamlet already had presumed the rat was Claudius and without hesitation killed the rat with his sword and then later finding out he accidently killed Polonius. Act 3, Scene 4 (28 pg.2) “Hamlet “Nay, I know not: Is it the king?” The news reaches Laertes and as he returned from France he assumed it was Claudius who killed his father and attempted to take revenge immediately. “Laertes: To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand That both the worlds I give to negligence. Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged Most thoroughly for my father.” Act 4, Scene 5 (105-110 pg.7). He later finds out it was Hamlet who killed Polonius. Through these points we can see how Laertes is a foil to Hamlet, because he acts without knowing reasons.
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.
...e story. Indeed, if Hamlet acts quickly, there would be only one act of Hamlet. Laertes, upon hearing of his father’s demise wants swift and fervent justice. Although he is the more impassioned of the two, it is this incisiveness that leads to Laertes’ demise. He allows himself to be manipulated, enamored by the king’s rhetoric. Laertes, suddenly realizing the plot at hand, repents for his killing of Hamlet, true to his character even in the face of death. Hamlet seeks to blame his "madness" for the death of Polonius, and never admits fault for the fate of his schoolmates.
To see Laertes as a foil for Hamlet, you must first examine the similarities. The most obvious are the age and sex of the characters. Hamlet and Laertes are both of the relative same age, and they are both males. Their fathers are both dead. Laertes' father's murder was committed by Hamlet. While speaking with his mother, Hamlet, "Thrusts his rapier through the arras" (692). Polonius is behind the arras. He kills him. Hamlet's father is also murdered. According to the ghost, "'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me. So the whole ear or Denmark is by a forged process of my death . . . the serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown" (648). The ghost tells his son to, "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (648). This causes Hamlet to become revenge oriented. Laertes is also driven to revenge due to his father's death. Due to this revenge, the men both are stabbed by a poisonous sword, which kills them both.
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, is infuriated with his mother, Gertrude, for marrying his uncle, Claudius, less than two months after his father’s death. Hamlet, the main protagonist, has two characters who act as foils to him, and they are Fortinbras and Laertes. Not only do they want revenge on their father’s murderers, but they are willing to do so at all costs, even if it means destroying their reputation and independence. They also find different ways to cope with their troubles. These foils enhance the importance of Hamlet’s character throughout the play.
Hamlet, the major character in the Shakespeare play of the same name, was faced with a decision upon learning that Claudius murdered his father. Should he believe the ghost, and avenge his father's murder? Or is the ghost evil, trying to coerce him into killing Claudius? Throughout the play, we see Hamlet's struggle with this issue. Many opportunities arise for him to kill Claudius, but he is unable to act because he cannot convince himself to believe the Ghost. Shakespeare uses Laertes and Fortinbras as foils to Hamlet, in order to help us understand why Hamlet acts the way he does.
Hamlet questions what may or may not happen however Laertes just wants the revenge fast and effective. Although these characters have different standards when it comes to revenge, they both immediately blamed and directed their anger towards Claudius when they found out their father’s were dead. Hamlet’s reason to blame Claudius is simply because he is his father’s murderer. In 1.5 while Hamlet is talking to the ghost of his father he says, “Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift/As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge” (Shakespeare 1.5.31-33). At first is seems as if Hamlet would seek revenge right away because he seems eager to find out who the killer is and when he does find out he says he knew it was Claudius all along. He is furious and after this part in the play, Hamlet’s anger is mainly focused on Claudius. On the other hand when Laertes found out Polonius is dead he went straight to Claudius assuming it was him. By doing this he shows that he is controlled by his impulses unlike Hamlet who waited until he got proof to act on his fury. Laertes also blamed Claudius for not giving his father a proper burial, which can relate to Hamlet’s anger too because Hamlet felt as if there was not enough mourning for his father death. Not only did they both lose their fathers, but they both lost Ophelia, a female figure in their lives that they both loved.
When Polonius decides that he wants to know what his son is up to in Paris, he hires Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. His suggestion is that Reynaldo should say he has “some distant knowledge of him, as thus: ‘I know his father and his friends, and, in part, him’” (2.1.14-16). Polonius wants Reynaldo to lie about his friendship with Laertes in order to gain information on him. When Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius instead of Claudius, his mother tells Claudius that Hamlet “whips out his rapier, cries, ‘A rat, a rat!’” before stabbing Polonius behind a curtain (4.1.11). Gertrude swears to her husband that Hamlet had no intention of killing any human. While she is lying to Claudius, she is attempting to protect her son from harsh
William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is known as the best tragedy play of all times. Each one of the characters has their own unique personality, but some of them are very alike. Hamlet, the main character, and Laertes, one of the other leading roles, are very much alike but at the same time slightly different. Their experiences collide and they both make some decisions, which change their lives forever. Hamlet and Laertes both display impulsive reactions when angered.
This belief leads to the death of Polonius, and furthermore to the death of Hamlet. In the next scene, Hamlet's fate is sealed. Polonius, the "Wretched, rash, intruding fool", (81) was up to his old tricks, while Hamlet accidentally slays Polonius mistaking Polonius for Claudius. Later on, Laertes returns to avenge his father. "How came he dead?" (99) asked
In Shakespeare’s famous play “Hamlet” the characters Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, and Laertes, son of Polonius, who also acts as a foil to Hamlet’s character, both display traits and respond to conflict in certain ways through out the play that can both be compared and contrasted.
Following the performance of “The Mousetrap”, Hamlet is summoned to his mother's chamber. Upon arguing with Gertrude over the intentions of his play, and his reasons for wanting to distress the king so openly, Hamlet kills Polonius. “How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat, dead (III.iv.27-28)! Perhaps Hamlet did not know whom he was killing. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better”(III.iv.38-39)! Perhaps Hamlet thought he was killing the king.
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.
... the only way to honour his father Polonius is by killing Hamlet. In addition, as Claudius reads the letter from Hamlet to Laertes he says “'Tis Hamlet’s character. “Naked” And in a postscript here, he says “alone.” Can you advise me?” (IV, VII, 52-53). This shows that Claudius takes advantage of Hamlet’s return alone as an opportunity for Laertes to kill him. Through Claudius’s actions the readers observe how he deceives Laertes into killing Hamlet for his own benefit without getting blood on his hands. Furthermore, Claudius’ desperation to kill Hamlet leads to him losing sight of what is important, which is being the king of Denmark, what he originally wanted, instead the lies he told and the manipulation he spread is now taking over. To conclude, it is evident through the play that the words and actions of Claudius have only lead to the spread of deception.
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.