Hamlet And Laertes Relationship Essay

488 Words2 Pages
Gertrude and Claudius are husband and wife, Hamlet II is Gertrude and Hamlet Sr’s son. Ophelia and Laertes and Siblings whose father is Polonius. Polonius, Ophelia and Laertes father-son-daughter relationship is thought-provoking. Polonius and Laertes seem to have a pretty normal father-son relationship, but their relationships with Ophelia is very perplexing. They each act as if they have sole authority over her, Polonius treats her like her feelings are irrelevant and Laertes treats her as though she makes no sense. Not to mention with the extremely affectionate interaction between Laertes and Ophelia, the sexual context and imagery creates an undertone of incest, piggybacking off of the incest of Claudius’s marriage to his brother’s wife and…show more content…
Hamlet is passionately furious with his mother for this and he despises Claudius just the same. Claudius is unemotional towards Hamlet and the fact he still grieves his fathers death. The first foil in the play is Laertes. After Hamlet Sr died, he also returned to Denmark for the funeral. Hamlet and Laertes are both very fond of Ophelia. They both grieve over a death in the play. Laertes grieves over Ophelia and Hamlet grieves over his father, King Hamlet's death. The final similarity of the two 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.The second foil to Hamlet is Prince Fortinbras of Norway. He also seeks revenge for the death of his father. Fortinbras acts out his revenge is a different way than both Laertes and Hamlet. Fortinbras goes to war over land simply to defend the honor of his father. The honor of his family is as important to him as it is to Hamlet. The difference about the revenge of both is that Fortinbras doesn't procrastinate like Hamlet did. Again, this shows the reader Hamlet's hesitant and

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