Hamlet Laertes Foil

704 Words2 Pages

Acting and thinking about acting are very different; in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet are complete opposites when it comes to the matter. Inadvertently, Laertes is a literary foil to Hamlet, acting brashly and boldly when need be. It seems to stutter Hamlet’s conscience when Laertes is quarrelsome in regards to the death of his father and sister. Laertes is the cause of Hamlets dismay, Laertes’ anger is what drives Hamlet to finally do something and act, to kill and acquire revenge, equal revenge. Laertes’ idea of revenge that was instinctive, it almost was it built into his identity. Clearly any boy with his father and his sister dead all of a sudden would seek a culprit, but Laertes was different. Laertes clearly states his intentions, …show more content…

After Hamlet had watched his mother die from the poison Laertes asked for forgiveness at the same time unveiling to Hamlet once again that the king is to blame in all of this, “It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain; No medicine in the world can do thee good. The King, the King's to blame… Exchange forgiveness with me noble Hamlet” (Shakespeare V ii 99). The easily influenced Laertes has now fallen a coward, asking for forgiveness from the end of a sword after having caused the entire fiasco. Hamlet on the other hand, has stayed adamant to his reasoning and pre-decided his fate, chose to not back down from the situation before him. The falling action began with Laertes coming back to Denmark and establishing his presence, meanwhile the resolution, ended with him dying a dishonorable death. In the end, thorough thinkers seem to prevail. Although both characters end up dead, its arguable to say that Hamlet ends up in a better state than does Laertes. The Prince of Denmark never takes the throne, but he gets his revenge and punishes the people in the kingdom that harmed the good of the state the most. An unmethodical and bodacious character, Laertes proves in the end that he never made up his mind on what to do. His indecision with death demonstrates that he, unlike Hamlet, never fully understood the ramifications of his actions. Laertes had a weak mind but acted boldly, a lesson well learned and a combination never to

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