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Characters and characterization of hamlet
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Characters and characterization of hamlet
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The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in Hamlet
The Shakespearean play, Hamlet, is a story of revenge and the way the characters in the play respond to grief and the demands of loyalty. The importance of Fortinbras and Laertes in the play is an issue much discussed, analysed and critiqued. Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide pivotal points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three young men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to avenge their father's deaths. The way the each comes to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of main contrasts between the three.
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 father's deaths. Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to be his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg, and Laertes at France. Both are admired for their swordsmenship. Both men loved and respected their fathers, and display deviousness when plotting to avenge their father's deaths.
Hamlet's response to grief is a trait starkly contrasted by Laertes. Laertes response to the death of his father is immediate. He is publicly angry, and he leads the public riot occuring outside Castle Elsinore, which Polonius' death and quick burial served as a catalyst. He is suspicious, as is evident in his speech to Claudius. "How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. / To hell, allegiance!"(Act 4, 5:130). Hamlet, however is very private with his grief. His mourning for King Hamlet is long and drawn out, two months after his father's death, he is still observed to be wearing "...suits of solemn black."[(Act1, 2:78) Claudius and Gertrude comment on his unhappiness, however it is not until Hamlet's first soliloquy that the audience is made aware of the depth of his suffering. Although dismayed at his mother's quick remarriage to his uncle, Hamlet suspects nothing of his father's murder until the ghost discloses this to him.
When brought to the call of avenging their father's deaths, Laertes is fast to act, he is wants revenge and he wants ...
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...s assumption to the lands he sought to attain, and the throne he ironically set out to avenge.
As is hinted throughout the play, the state of Denmark has become corrupt. Marcellus' famous quote "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"(Act 1, 5:90) is complemented by various other observations. "...tis an unweeded garden,"(Act 1, 2:134) and "our state to be disjoint and out of frame,"(Act 1, 2:20). In Elizabethan times it was generally thought that a monarch had to have rightful claim to the throne, lest the state descend into chaos. Fortinbras is essential to this overlying story line, as he is fundamental to the resolution of the corruption. The overlying story line is to make what was bad become good, and thus a complete resolution is needed. Fortinbras is instrumental in this resolution: as the only nobleman left to claim the throne rightfully, Hamlet bequeaths not only the land that Old Fortinbras lost, but also the state of Denmark. Hence Fortinbras attains what he had vowed to avenge, and the play comes full circle. All that made the state of Denmark rotten, all those involved with the corruption, are now dead hence the overlying story plot is fully resolved.
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,
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.
Hamlet contains three plots of revenge throughout the five acts of the play. Young Hamlet, after getting a shocking realization from his father’s ghost, wants to enact a plot of revenge against his uncle. Laertes, who was struck twice in quick succession by the death of his father and sister, wants to kill Hamlet. Away in Norway, Fortinbras wants to take revenge on the entire nation of Denmark for taking his father’s land and life. These three sons all want the same thing, vengeance, but they go about it in wildly different ways, but as Lillian wilds points out, “he also sees himself in the mirrors of Fortinbras [and] Laertes.”(153) It becomes clear that the parallels presented throughout the play are there to further illuminate the flaws of
In the play several characters are compelled to restore family honor by exacting vengeance. Fortinbras tries to reclaim his father’s honor by reclaiming territory, Hamlet must get back at Claudius for killing his father, and Laertes must get back at Hamlet to avenge his father and sister. Each character is driven in the play to get revenge at someone. Hamlet is
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.
In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the character of Fortinbras, has been used as a foil for the main character, Hamlet. Hamlet and Fortinbras have lost their fathers to untimely deaths. Claudius killed Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, and King Hamlet killed Fortinbras' father. Both Hamlet and Fortinbras have vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of their fathers. Since the revenge tactics of Hamlet and Fortinbras are completely different, Hamlet perceives the actions of Fortinbras as better than his own and the actions of Fortinbras, then, encourage Hamlet to act without hesitating.
In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the importance of characters Laertes and Fortinbras have been an issue that's discussed and analyzed by many literary critics. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are parallel characters in the play. Laertes and Fortinbras are often use by Shakespeare to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. "They are also important in Hamlet as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution" (Nardo, 88). Shakespeare placed these three men: Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras into similar circumstances, which is, to avenge for their fathers' deaths. The main difference between the three is the way that each of them comes to grief of their fathers' deaths and the way they planned their vengeance.
Laertes is greatly influenced by revenge for his actions especially when he is seeking revenge for his sister. He shows his brotherly love for Ophelia when he says “For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,/Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,/A violet in the youth of primy nature,/Forward, not permanent, sweet, not
The way we perceive our lives is echoed in the way we comport ourselves in everyday life. Hamlet is a man of visible education and he would rather use his mind over his fist. He is quick to look for an explanation on behalf of the actions of others. Hamlet is not a man to search out blood without a rational justification. When dealing with Laertes and Fortinbras you can vividly see the contrast between the extremes. Once Laertes finds out his father has been unjustly murdered, he swiftly swears revenge without give the situation a second thought in contrast to Hamlet who takes all factors into mind before carrying out a sentence.
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.
Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide critical points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet, as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three young men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to get revenge for their fathers' deaths. The way they each come to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of the main contrasts between the three.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the theme of revenge is very palpable as the reader examines the characters of Hamlet himself, as well as Laertes, son of Polonius, and Fortinbras, prince of Norway and son of the late King Fortinbras. Each of these young characters felt the need to avenge the deaths of their fathers who they felt were untimely killed at the bloody hands of their murderers. However, the way each chose to go about this varies greatly and gives insight into their characters and how they progress throughout the play. 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.
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare introduces us to Fortinbras and Hamlet. Both characters are bent on avenging the death of their fathers who were murdered. In Act I, two different revenge plots by these two men are revealed, and while Fortinbras is very open and bold about killing Claudius, Hamlet is sly and quiet about his plan. Fortinbras is also dead set on attacking Denmark no matter what but Hamlet is indecisive about killing Claudius. Fortinbras plans to lead an army to attack Denmark while Hamlet’s plan of attack is to act crazy.
Hamlet and Fortinbras have much more in common than one may think. Concerning the death’s of their fathers, Hamlet’s father was murdered by his own brother, Hamlet’s uncle, and Fortinbras’ father was slain by Hamlet’s father, which resulted in Fortinbras’s uncle criminally taking the