In this famous play by William Shakespeare, there are many different aspects of the play that keep the reader intrigued and engaged with this roundabout story. We are introduced to this play after Hamlet, the king of Denmark, has been murdered. The reader is thrown into the fiery play with a large amount of brutal events occurring. Shakespeare expertly uses examples of character foils in this play. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare uses the technique of a character foil with the characters Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet and Laertes are almost completely opposite with their views and actions, but in a few cases they both share some similarities. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, foil means that a trait of another
Both of these characters have opposite actions and opposite attitudes towards certain subjects. In this instance, both of these character’s fathers have been brutally murdered, and they take different courses of action. The reiteration of the concept of a foil is that they are contrasting characters and most of the time the antagonist emphasizes the protagonist’s traits. In Act 1, Scene 2, Laertes is asking if he can leave Denmark and return to France, “Dread my lord, your leave and favour to return to France” 1.2.52-53). On the contrary, Hamlet asks Gertrude and Claudius if he can return to his school in Wittenburg, “For your intent in going back to school in Wittenburg, it is most retrograde to our desire” (1.2.115-117). Laertes ends up being able to reestablish himself in France as requested after his father’s homicide; however, Hamlet is asked to stay in Denmark by Gertrude, his mother. The difference in this occurrence is that Laertes is looking out for himself more and trying to make the situation more fitting. Hamlet obeys his mother and step-father and decides to sojourn in Denmark with the rest of his kin. Although the concept of both of them leaving
Love and the proposition that Hamlet and Laertes are similar in ways intertwine to provide the reader a side story that is very intriguing. In the situation where Hamlet is seeking revenge, Laertes acts like the big brother of Ophelia a tries to keep her safe from the political trouble and position. In addition to Laertes, Hamlet use to have strong feelings for Ophelia, but as the play goes on; Hamlet bitterly still tries to protect Ophelia. Hamlets introductory feelings for Ophelia come out when he hears about her fate and her funeral. At the funeral for Ophelia, Hamlet states that, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her” (5.1.270-272). Hamlet specifically says “I loved Ophelia”, this confirms his feelings he had for Ophelia. Although Hamlet had contradicting views to Ophelia than Laertes, they both share love for her. When Laertes is enlightened about his father’s murder, he immediately confronts the king thinking that he was deceived and Polonius was betrayed. Laertes says, “That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard; Cries cuckold to my father; brands the harlot” (4.5.125-126). Laertes originally believes that Claudius was behind the murder of his father and if that plot held true, then Hamlet and Laertes would’ve shared a communal hatred for Claudius, but Laertes finds out Hamlet murdered
Throughout the play, Laertes is as an extremely caring member of his family. His strong emotions for family have an opposing side to it, a shadow that has repressed feelings of anger which cause him to add to the disaster in Denmark. An example that depicts this is when Laertes attempts to request more rites for Ophelia’s funeral. After he is denied, he starts a commotion by calling the priest “churlish”, explaining that Ophelia will be “A ministering angel” while the priest will “liest howling”(5.1.217-218). His compliments to Ophelia shows how much he loved her, while his nasty insults to the priest show his repressed rage. While this is occuring, Hamlet hears Laertes’s mention of Ophelia during the commotion and throws himself into a brawl with Laertes. It is the conflict built up from there that causes Claudius to target Laertes as his next weapon to kill Hamlet with. Laertes’s deep anger for Hamlet makes himself the best candidate for Claudius’s manipulation. Once Laertes’s sides with Claudius, he shows his dark intent by requesting Claudius to not “o'errule me to a peace”(4.7.58). On the day of the duel, Laertes undergoes a confrontation of his shadow while he clashes with Hamlet. His realization of his shadow comes too late into the duel when both Hamlet and Laertes are struck by poison, as this happens he declares that he is “ justly killed with mine own treachery (5.2.337).” In the moments that he is still alive, he dismisses his shadow and ends the circle of murder by announcing the true nature of Claudius. Laertes’s repressed anger guides the play into the duel where many deaths occur including Hamlet’s.
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.
He believed that Hamlet was only with her out of lust and Hamlet said that he wanted to marry her only so she would sleep with him. Laertes told her that Hamlet comes from a royal family and she does not, therefore Hamlet will not marry her, nor does he love her. Ophelia disregarded most of what Laertes had said about Hamlet. Right after that Polonius came to speak to Laertes before he had gone to England. They spoke briefly and Polonius gave him advice to follow. Before saying farewell, Laertes told Ophelia to remember what he had said. Curious of...
He allows his true feelings and emotions to pour out at her grave for the last time before she is buried and gone forever: “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum,” (V.i.285-87). Regardless to the amount of love Ophelia’s brother had for her, Hamlet claims that he loves her more than Laertes ever could. Similar to the symbolism in his letters, he expresses his abundant love for Ophelia and how she is the girl he truly cares about. The prince comes straight out with his feelings and does not act insane during the funeral, he is simply being honest straight from his heart. Now that she is gone, Hamlet cannot protect her and has no reason to hid his true emotions towards
A foil is a minor charater in a literary work that compliments the main character through similarities and differences in personality and plot. Among all the foils in Shakespear[e]'s "Hamlet," [Titles] Laertes has the biggest impact on Hamlet's character. While Hamlet maintained his status as prince, it was Laertes that represented the well bred son of the royal family and the traditional revenge hero. [The thesis does not cover the essay.]
”(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.
Foils are minor characters created in a play to help the audience understand a major character better by giving the major character someone to talk to and compare them to. Ophelia can be considered a foil to Hamlet because she helps us see the different attitudes Hamlet has toward certain things. Hamlet, after finding out that his father was murdered, starts acting crazy and giving Ophelia mixed signals about his love for her. Ophelia believes Hamlet loves her but, because of her father’s wishes, constantly turns him down and denies that she feels the same way. Ophelia finally denounces denies that she loves him but Hamlet states that "I did love you once." He also stated that "You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not." "Get thee to a nunnery." These lines from the play states [SV -1] that Hamlet was pretending to be delirious and pretending to love Ophelia because of what Claudius has done to his father.
Hamlet's behavior throughout the play, especially towards Ophelia is inconsistent. He jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes in her grave. He professes I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum [Act V, scene I, lines 250-253], during the fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but he tells her that he never loved her, when she returns his letters and gifts, while she was still alive. Hamlet subtly hints his awareness of his dissolving sanity as he tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in a fit of madness [Act V, scene II, lines 236-250]
Along with protecting his sister from the unlawful Hamlet, Laertes tries to protect the family’s reputation. He believes that Hamlet is to out manipulate his daughter and if he doesn’t put an end to it, entire family will be ruined. Other royals will begin to look down the family if the secrets and between Hamlet and Ophelia are ever
Hamlet Compare and contrast between Hamlet and Laertes 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.
The readers detect that Hamlet goes in the path of plotting and deceiving to kill Claudius, whereas Laertes goes in a more haste and reckless path to kill his father’s killer. Finally, after all the plotting and attempts to kill their father’s killers, Hamlet and Laertes come to face the outcomes of their decisions. During the final scene and act of Hamlet, both foils are engaged in an alleged friendly battle, where the king has placed a bet on Hamlet that he will win over Laertes. After their battle, Laertes manages to hit Hamlet with the poisoned tip of his foil and in turn Hamlet gets him back.
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.
"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.
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.
This final act of the play surely sums up the love that Hamlet had for Ophelia. Dramatically, Hamlet jumps into the grave of Ophelia. Distraught with grief for her, Hamlet confronts her brother, Laertes, telling him that he loved her even more than a brother loves a sister. Hamlet cries out to Laertes “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum” (Shakespeare, Act IV, scene I, lines 285-287). Although it was too late for Ophelia to hear Hamlet’s true feelings expressed once again, this does show that Hamlet’s love was not madness, but genuine affection. Pouring out his heartfelt emotions, Hamlet says he loved her so much he would do anything for