Free Paper Sample on Hamlet

Introduction

Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare uses character foils to enhance the personality of the characters. A foil entails a minor character with their similarities and differences used to reveal the character traits and that of another character opposite to them. A foil is used as a parallel and contracts Hamlet's character, thus revealing various traits. As Shakespeare's to can be shown through Laertes, the character is driven to revenge after the murder of his father (Shakespeare, 1992). Laertes's character trait is indecisive, with other traits revealed and seen in Hamlet. This paper focuses on the character foil of Laertes as used by Shakespeare in Hamlet.

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Laertes and Hamlet share a revenge goal for the murder of their father. However, how they handled the revenge is different. Unlike Hamlet, Laertes is ablaze action, which says "conscience and grace to the most profound pit." (A4, S5 150). Laertes's intelligence and tendency to overthink is the flaw of Hamlet. Both Laertes and Hamlet are rash and impulsive in anger, thus bringing problems themselves (Shakespeare, 1992). For instance, Laerte's learning of the death of his father, he assumed it was Claudius. The speculation of Laertes makes his move to avenge Polonius' death instinctively. On the other side, Hamlet thrust in rage and killing Claudius.

Deception and Betrayal

The play, Hamlet, deals with some of the fundamental issues that confront human beings, including deception and betrayal. Deception is an essential element of Shakespeare's Hamlet as it is destructive based on how it is practiced.

One instance of deception is Hamlet's madness, which aims to draw attention away from his suspicious activities while working hard to garner evidence against Claudius. Through Horatio, Hamlet reveals his deceitful intention to feign insanity.

"Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,As I, perchance, hereafter shall think to meetTo put an antic disposition on,"(187-199)

The Murder of Gonzago can be elaborated as deception, which Hamlet uses to catch Claudius in his guilt. Besides, Hamlet betrays the Ghost of his father by not killing Claudius as he was promised and kept on contemplating over he should kill him or not. He reveals the deceit and betrayal to Horatio in the play:

"Give him a heedful noteFor I mine eyes will rivet to his face,And after we will both our judgments joinIn censure of his seeming."(3.2.86-89)

Another instance of deception and betrayal is revealed through Hamlet's schemes to deceive the mother to harm her. Hamlet intends to deceive Gertrude when they met in her closet and appears to have any intention of hurting her. It reveals his betrayal through cruelty that Hamlet channeled through Nero.

" Soft! Now to my mother.O heart, lose not thy nature; let not everThe soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:Let me be cruel, not unnatural."(3.2.384-91)

The unusual ruthless act of deception is revealed with Hamlet discovering that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were carrying the death warrant. He eventually changed his names to the names of the unwitting champions. As a result, he sends them to be executed in his place, which is a brutal act of deception that is disappointing.

"I had my father's signet in my purse,Which was the model of that Danish seal:Folded the writ up in the form of the other, subscribe it, gave't the impression, plac'd itsafely"(5.2.47-55,62)

Conclusion

Finally, Laertes has experienced a similar situation as Hamlet, based on the death of his father. Both Hamlet and Laertes, therefore, share feelings of anger. For instance, Hamlet talks aggressively to himself about the unfitting period in which his father was mourned. Laertes, however, addresses King Claudius directly. Basing on the sexuality of women, Laertes and Hamlets share feelings of hatred. Hamlet has hostile feelings, both the sexuality of his mother basing on her relationship and King Claudius.

References

Shakespeare, W. (1992). The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical. XML Version by Jon Bosak, 1996–1999.
https://www.w3.org/People/maxf/XSLideMaker/hamlet.pdf.