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Recommended: The importance of laertes in hamlet

A father – son relationship is a very odd and beautiful thing, naturally a son looks up to his father in everything especially on how to be a man. In contrast a father’s goal is to raise and advise his son using past experiences so that he can surpass him and carry on the honor of the family. In the tragic play Hamlet by William Shakespeare it’s all about family relationships especially father and sons, Shakespeare includes the stories of three young men who have all lost their fathers: Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras. All their relationships and fate at the end are very different but it is Laertes and Polonius that is the most striking in the play because we get to see more of their relationship in action, it seems as though it’s the most normal, and it definitely highlights the flaws of the other two relationships. In this tragic play there is an element of duty and protection, trustworthiness, and loyalty between Polonius and Laertes. Though there relationship is not perfect with these vital elements in their relationship it shows there ever living love for each other.
Naturally when a son tells his father that he wants to move out and live his own life in a different country it might spark some worry for his well-being in a father. Towards the beginning of the play you can see a great deal of a father and son’s duty and protection for one another when Laertes tells us of his move out of Denmark to France. : In Act 1 Laertes exclaims to the king “My dread Lord, You leave and favor to return to France… Yet now I must confess, that duty done,”(1.2.51-54) saying that he has done his duty to him and desires to leave Denmark; this may seem odd at first because it sounds like Laertes want to leave his father, family, and home. But ...

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All in all based on their duty and protection, trustworthiness, and loyalty to each other Laertes remained the most normal relationship in the play and it’s clear that they both loved each other deeply though they didn’t have the change to tell it to each other. The long list of normal fatherly advice that Polonius gives creates a somewhat stereotypical father-son signifying his love for Laertes, in the play’s many family relationships. Though Polonius was distrustful of Laertes in France it’s arguable that he could have been over protective of his son because of his love for him. The headstrong, active, loyal and affectionate Laertes when his father died contrasted with Hamlet becoming his foil in the play. The purpose of Polonius and Laertes father – son relationship is important as it enriches the conflicts occurring in Fortinbras and Hamlet’s family.

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