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ENGLISH RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT HAMLET: LAERTES Rupert Averill

Shakespearean Character Study

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Page 1: Shakespearean Character Study

ENGLISH RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

HAMLET: LAERTES

Rupert Averill

Page 2: Shakespearean Character Study

LAERTES

Laertes is a character in the Shakesperian play

Hamlet. He is the son of Polonius and brother of

Opheila. He is an antagonist character in the play

because he causes conflict. This play is a tragedy

because of all the conflict and deaths. ‘Hamlet’ is set

in the 16th century in Denmark.

Page 3: Shakespearean Character Study

Synopsis:Not long after Laertes returns to France he finds out about his

fathers death and returns to Denmark as soon as possible to

solve the murder and get revenge. At first Laertes suspects

King Claudius has killed his father but after confronting the

King he finds out it was actually Hamlet. Soon after this he

hears that his sister Ophelia has drowned because she was

driven mad, just as Laertes had feared. Laertes gets revenge

on Hamlet by poisoning his sword and slashing him in a

fencing match that ends up killing both himself and Hamlet.

Page 4: Shakespearean Character Study

CONFLICT IN THE PLAY ‘HAMLET’

Person vs Person – Laertes has confliction on Hamlet for

driving his sister Ophelia mad to the point of suicide and for

the murdering of his father Polonius.

Person vs self – Laertes has an extensive inner conflict of

loyalty, honour and becoming a good man, understanding

what Polonius has told him. He deals with conflict very

prompt and direct, ‘as soon as he hears about his fathers

death, he acts as soon as he can to go get revenge.

Page 5: Shakespearean Character Study

MAIN CONFLICT

The main source of conflict driving the play is the

conflict between Hamlet and Laertes and the revenge

the both want on certain people. The more hungry

Laertes got for revenge his inner conflict of honour, love

and loyalty was taken over by vengeance. The deaths of

Polonius and Ophelia is the driving force behind Laertes

and King Claudius's plot in killing hamlet.

Page 6: Shakespearean Character Study

STRUCTURE OF PLOT

Introduction: We are introduced to Laertes when he first

comes into the play asking King Claudius if he can leave to

France, so he can escape the questionable circumstances

of his marriage and subsequent ascension to the throne.

Exciting force: Hamlet kills Polonius so Laertes returns to

Denmark to seek revenge.

Page 7: Shakespearean Character Study

Rising action: Laertes just suspected that King

Claudius Killed Polonius but finds out that it was

actually Hamlet and this changes the way he feels

about revenge.

Turning point: Ophelia drowns because she was

driven mad, Laertes blames Hamlet for this which

makes Laertes even hungrier for revenge on Hamlet.

Falling action: To this certain decisive point Laertes

has followed his love, honour and loyalty but now the

scales have tipped off balance and now he turns to take

the other end of the spectrum.

Page 8: Shakespearean Character Study

Resolution: King Claudius and Laertes plan way to kill hamlet

and get revenge. The out come is a fencing match between

Hamlet and Laertes which results in Hamlets death as Laertes

had poison on his sword that just sliced Hamlets flesh.

Untangling: Laertes honour finally takes control as he admits

his guilt but it is too late as he lost the match to Hamlet

because he slashed him three times with his own poisoned

sword.

Comic relief: The Graveyard scene provides dramatic relief

when the gravediggers are digging Ophelia’s grave deciding

weather she should be buried in a churchyard because her

death was a suicide.

Page 9: Shakespearean Character Study

BEGINNING OF PLAYIn the beginning of the play Laertes is simply seen as a

miner character. In the first lines that Laertes speaks in the

play he is asking King Claudius for his approval to allow him

to return to his duties in France. This is important from the

viewpoint as it demonstrates his dislike of the King and wish

to escape from the questionable circumstances of his

marriage and subsequent accession to the throne. Before he

leaves he show’s love for his family epically Ophelia by

trying to warn her about her relationship with hamlet and

asking her to be careful, but she refuses to listen as she is in

love with Hamlet.

Page 10: Shakespearean Character Study

CHANGES THROUGH THE PLAY

As the play goes on we find out Laertes is a great

importance in the play, so far he has followed his loyalty,

love and honour to the decisive point where the scales are

starting to tip off balance. He has tried the stoic way, of

staying totally apart but has failed and now tries to take the

other end of the spectrum and by acting with vengeance

and revenge. This results in planning with King Claudius to

get revenge on Hamlet. Laertes ends up going through with

the plan to poison Hamlet in a fencing match therefore

driving the conflict further.

Page 11: Shakespearean Character Study

BY THE END

By the end of the play Laertes Honour finally takes

control of him as he realises what he has just done was

wrong. He admits his guilt and tells all of the kings plot to

kill hamlet even though it’s to late as it doesn’t do any

good. He realises and learns the hard way that killing

Hamlet was neither achieving or gaining anything and

revenge doesn’t bring back the love ones lost.

Page 12: Shakespearean Character Study

QUOTESI'm lost in it, my lord. But let him come;

It warms the very sickness in my heart,

That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,

'Thus diest thou.' • Laertes, scene vii

For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favours,

Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,

Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,

The perfume and suppliance of a minute —

No more. • Laertes, scene iii

Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,

And therefore I forbid my tears. • Laertes, scene vii

I lov'd Ophelia: forty thousand brothers

Could not, with all their quantity of love,

Make up my sum. • Hamlet, scene

Lay her i' the earth:

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh

May violets spring! • Laertes, scene i

• LAERTESHow came he dead? I'll not be juggled with: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 the worlds I give to negligence,Let come what comes; only I'll be revengedMost thoroughly for my father.(4.5.6)

“Laertes: It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain; No medicine in the world can do thee good. In thee there is not half an hour of life. The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenom'd. The foul practice Hath turn'd itself on me. Lo, here I lie, Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd. I can no more. The King, the King's to blame.”

Page 13: Shakespearean Character Study

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:

http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/characters.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/hamlet-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laertes_(Hamlet)

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=7963

http://schoolworkhelper.net/laertes%e2%80%99-role-importance-in-shakespeare%e2%80%99s-hamlet/

http://www.ez-essays.com/free/1862.html

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/hamlet/at-a-glance.html

http://www.enotes.com/hamlet

Books:

Insight publications- Hamlet Sample essays- 2009

John Jump- Shakespeare Hamlet- 1968

Leon Garfield- Shakespeare, the animated tales of hamlet- 1992