Who Is Laertes A Foil To Hamlet

    William Shakespeare wrote the classic play, Hamlet in the sixteenth century.  Hamlet would be a very difficult play to understand without the masterful use of foils.  A foil is a minor character in a literary work that compliments the main character through similarities and differences in personality.  The audience can identify similarities and differences between any of the characters and Hamlet, however, there are two characters that share so much in common with Hamlet that they have to be considered the most important foils in the play.  These two characters are Laertes and Fortinbras.  It is the great similarities between Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet that make the

In the climactic final scene of the play, the foils do fence, wherein both are fatally wounded. The fact that Hamlet and Laertes both live in separate countries from where they were born, and that both are renowned fencers, acts as a comparison to present the two as parallel foils, though it is a decidedly less significant one.

    In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the characters of Laertes and Hamlet both display impulsive reactions when angered. Once Laertes discovers his father has been murdered, he immediately assumes the slayer is Claudius. As a result of Laertes' speculation, he instinctively moves to avenge Polonius' death. "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 worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father." Act 4 Scene 5 lines 128-134 provide insight into Laertes' mind, displaying his desire for revenge at any cost.

The final way that Laertes acts as a foil to Hamlet occurs once again when Claudius and Laertes are discussing Laertes’ actions to achieve his vengeance. Claudius gives Laertes advice saying, “That we would do/ we should do when we would; for this ‘would’/ changes” (4.7.134-136). Claudius is warning Laertes that if he waits long enough, he will probably end up not doing anything at all and will not achieve his goal of vengeance. This quote spoken by Claudius is quite similar to when King Hamlet’s ghost meets with Hamlet earlier in the play to warn him about how he was killed by Claudius and that he must get revenge. King Hamlet’s ghost also warns Hamlet saying, “Taint not thy mind” (1.5.92), telling him to not over think his plan because otherwise he will not pursue his vengeance. After Claudius warns Laertes to not get side tracked, the audience is reminded of King Hamlet’s ghost telling Hamlet to not over think because then their plans will not be pursued. This scene acts as a foil towards Hamlet because soon after the conversation, Laertes does pursue his plan of seeking vengeance, whereas Hamlet has been working on his plan the whole play, and has still not started to execute it.

After Hamlet kills Polonius, Laertes makes his return from France infuriated with the poor burial his father was given and convinced that Claudius was the culprit. With only his assumptions as his guide, he charges into the castle as the head of a mob and curses the king, claiming “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”(4.5.151-154). In his quest to redeem the death of his father, Laertes states that he does not care what happens to him in his current life or his next as long as Polonius is avenged. This scene draws parallels to Hamlet and his reaction to his father’s death. For both Hamlet and Laertes, their fathers were killed while they were away from home, and their killers got away with their crimes.

Laertes also brings revenge and betrayal out of Hamlet. Though an enemy, Laertes is a foil to Hamlet. Laertes helps in the development of Hamlet through the similarities they share. These include anger over the death of their fathers, and desire to exact revenge. Betrayal is also relevant because Laertes betrays Claudius in the end, revealing his plan to kill Hamlet. Hamlet betrays his father by verbally abusing his mother, against the wishes of his father. The differences between the two men are very strong. Hamlet would not kill Claudius in the church because he was praying. Laertes, however stated that he would kill Hamlet in a church, praying or not. Another difference is that Hamlet cannot be a man of action and a man of thought at the same time. He does not use his mind when he acts. He just acts. When he is pondering something, he is unable to act out his thoughts, and keeps quiet. Laertes, however, is able to act while thinking. He finds out that Hamlet killed his father and immediately devises a plan to kill him. This flaw makes Hamlet dangerous to himself, and is ultimately his downfall.

Shakespeare added many different elements to his play to distinguish it from other similar pieces of writing. An addition, that drastically improved the story, was the character Laertes. Laertes improves the sources material by giving dimension to the play, and also serving as a foil to Hamlet.

Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg, and Laertes at France. Both are admired for their swordsmanship. Both men loved and respected their fathers, and displayed some dishonesty when plotting to avenge their father's 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

Laertes serves a foil to Hamlet, although they are not similar in birth, they are similar in that they both have a dear father murdered. Using this parallel, Shakespeare uses Laertes to show what Hamlet should be doing, contrasting Laertes’s words of action to Hamlet’s own words of action. We see this most clearly when Laertes is talking with Claudius and he says that he will “cut [Hamlet’s] throat i' th' church” to avenge his father, this contrasts directly with Hamlet who decides not to kill a praying Claudius when he has the chance (4.7.144). Laertes also serves as external conflict as he challenges Hamlet to a fight and is convinced by Claudius to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword. Without this fight, who knows if Hamlet would have gotten around to kill Claudius? But when we really look at Laertes’ words and consequent action, we see another similarity with Hamlet, both are rash and passionate. This is significant because

On the other hand, Laertes wants to revenge his father’s death. Therefore this mistake murder leads Hamlet to his downfall as Claudius and Laertes want to kill him.

Laertes only appears near the beginning and end of Hamlet, but he is an important character in the plot and one that may seem to be very different, but is really just someone so incensed with anger that he does not have time to think. At the beginning of Hamlet, Laertes is shown be someone who cares about his family, particularly Ophelia. When he warns Ophelia not to get too close to Hamlet, it is out caring for her and her reputation (1.3.1). He may also be known to be a bit wild, this is shown especially when Polonius sends out Reynaldo to spy on Laertes and make sure he not up to anything (2.1.1). But besides Polonius’s suspicions, there are no other scenes that Laertes actually is.

36-38). King Claudius appears to be an honest, noble king, but in reality he is King Hamlet's murderer and a manipulative ruler. Near the end of the play, Claudius manipulates Laertes into a duel with Hamlet, so that he can murder Hamlet without suspicion when he says, "But you content to lend your patience to us,/And we shall jointly labor with your soul/To give it due content.". (4.7. ) This shows that Claudius is openly offering a chance for Laertes to seek revenge upon Hamlet for killing Polonius. Later on, Claudius also lays out the plan to murder Hamlet, when he says

Within the play Hamlet, Shakespeare utilizes Hamlet’s foil, Laertes, by comparing him to Hamlet in multiple aspects of their plans for revenge, to develop the theme of righteous revenge versus personal revenge. Shakespeare begins with contrasting their ideology about their deed by giving Hamlet a positive and righteous mindset about his future task while Laertes has a personal and rash mindset.

Hamlet and Laertes are two people with almost all the same aspects in the Shakespeare's Hamlet. They both want to avenge the death of their father's and they both love Ophelia. Hamlet's and Laerte's similarities can be described in many ways but one can talk about the main ones: being the love they have for Ophelia, the death of their father's and how they associate with their families.