Hamlet: Laertes An Important Character In Play
Though seeming to simply be a minor character, Laertes is of great
importance in the play, Hamlet, and much more than one would initially believe,
due to his extensive inner conflict. He is good, loyal, and honourable, seeming
to possess the greatest virtue of all the characters, yet he still is doomed to
die along with the other characters, precisely because of his great virtue.
As Scene Two begins, in the first lines which Laertes speaks in the play,
he requests that King Claudius allow him to return to his duties in France. This
is important from the viewpoint that it demonstrates his dislike for the King
and his wish to be away from the questionable circumstances of his marriage ...
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his songs,Ó (1.3.29) else
she lose her virtue to Prince Hamlet. This exemplifies his loyalty and love for
his family, and especially his sister, though she replies to his warnings and
advice with the sarcastic reply to do not ÒShow me the steep and thorny way to
heaven,/ Whilst, like a puffed and reckless libertine,/ Himself the primrose
path of dalliance treads/ And recks not his own rede.Ó (1.3.47) Following this,
Ophelia and LaertesÕ father, Polonius, enters, and Laertes departs with a final
warning to Ophelia.
Soon after Laertes departs, Polonius meets with Reynaldo, and instructs
him to bring money for Laertes, but first to spy on him and to make sure that he
stays out of trouble. It seems that it would be difficult for Laertes to not
know of this messengerÕs second duty as spy, as it is mentioned in the text ÒYou
must not put another scandal on him,Ó (2.1.29), implying that this has happened
before, somehow. From this, one could feel that Laertes expects this from ...
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at the fate of his remaining family, cries out ÒBy
heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight,/ Till our scale turn the beam.Ó
(4.5.152), this line being an implication of the scales being thrown out of
balance, and further attesting to LaertesÕ impending doom.
At this point in the story, Laertes has followed his loyalty, love, and
honour to the decisive point, and the scales have tipped off balance. He has
tried the Stoic way, similar to Horatio, of staying totally apart, but has
failed in this attempt, and he now tries to take the other end of the spectrum,
to balance his previous inaction with the action of vengeance, and revenge. He
makes a plan with Claudius to poison ...
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"Hamlet: Laertes An Important Character In Play." Essayworld.com. August 18, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Laertes-An-Important-Character-Play/50967.
"Hamlet: Laertes An Important Character In Play." Essayworld.com. August 18, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Laertes-An-Important-Character-Play/50967.
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