Hamlet's Foils

His main goal is to ensure Hamlet’s death, which is motivated by his guilt. He writes a letter to the King of England saying to execute him, which fails. He then persuades Laertes to duel with Hamlet by feeding him lies. However, guilt brings out the truth in people, and Laertes confesses during battle the truth about Claudius and his plan. Hamlet furiously stabs Claudius to death.

Since Laertes found out what Hamlet did to his father, he seeked revenge. But also after the death of his sister, Ophelia, Laertes felt like he had the need to take his anger out. “And so have I, a noble father lost, a sister driven into desperate terms, whose worth, if praises may go back again, stood challenger on mount of all the age for her perfections. But my revenge will come” (4.7.25-29). This quote proves that Laertes is really determined and he wants to end everything right there.

A foil is either a character who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only. The author adds these characters in his novel so that the reader can better understand the main characters and the story. The character foils being presented are about Amir and Hassan, their foils are shown when they are both still children and their differences clearly reflect one another.

Throughout the play Hamlet continues to act insane and even dies with the act continuing. Even after Hamlet gathers all the evidence that proves Claudius is the murder, Hamlet continues to behave in a strange way. When he mistakenly murders Polonius he does not react as a sane person would. This act enrages Laertes, who then wants to avenge his father’s death. Driven to madness by the murder of his father, Laertes, with the help of Claudius conspires to kill Hamlet.

Laertes was worried about his and his dad’s pride so he decide to murder hamlet. Laertes plans the big fencing match with Hamlet. He tricked hamlet and poisoned the tip of his sword. After he poisoned the tip of his sword everything went downhill. Laertes was being greedy because he wanted his dad to be king and stay king.

Hamlet on the other hand acts alone. He has committed himself and no one else to kill Claudius. Laertes allows himself to be manipulated when he confronts Claudius and is angered when asked, “What would you undertake To show yourself in deed your father’s son More than in words?” (Act 4 Scene7, lines 124-126). He is driven to seek revenge on Hamlet and becomes a pawn to Claudius.

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, centers around Hamlet’s contemplation of killing his uncle in order to avenge his father’s death. His decisions and values determine his fate. However, Hamlet’s intended action to avenge his father’s death is continuously postponed due to his moral dilemma. However, this moral dilemma causes him to make the decisions he does, and therefore, demonstrates the theme of his uncertainty versus his faith. Not only does faith stop him from taking alternative routes to achieve his goal, but his uncertainty causes him to either delay his revenge or make the wrong decisions.

Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero. After King Hamlets passing, Hamlet entered an unknown state of mind that not only feared others for his wellbeing, but also feared himself.

First, Hamlet is very intelligent and knows when someone is using him, but Laertes is not very intelligent and is easily tricked. Laertes is very gullible. Second, Hamlet is indecisive although, Laertes will not hesitate to do what he wants to do in order to get his revenge. Clearly, Hamlet and Laertes have similarities and differences. It is important that we recognize the the differences and similarities of these characters that I described.

Other than those similarities, Hamlet and Laertes dealt with their father's deaths in opposing ways. Hamlet was a thinker about the situation and thought deeply about his actions, and Laertes was more of a man of action who acted with no hesitation when it came to avenging his father. Due to their two resemblances, superficially it is easy to see why one may assume the two characters are similar, but once you truly read "Hamlet" it is clear that these characters are far from similar when it comes to confronting their father's

Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.

(Hamlet 568-82). Hamlet feels pity for himself for being in such a horrible situations with his father’s death, his mother’s quick marriage, and his depression but he is angry at himself for not doing anything about his situation, for not avenging his father against a horrible person. He does not create a revenge plan, he does not speak for his father, etc. He is frustrated and angry because wanted to avenge his father but he does not follow through with his desires. Hamlet then begins to fire up with anger and motivation for revenge against Claudius.

However, continuing with Hamlet’s incessant need for vengeance, the actions and drastic measures he takes in order to achieve such certainty are both incredibly genius and rightfully insane. Despite his methods and lack of will to act until he is absolutely positive with his facts, Hamlet proves that his way is the best way. Although Hamlet had numerous opportunities to act upon his revenge, he waited until he was absolutely sure of his suspicions, even when he could have easily retributed in his own controlled environment. Unlike many other named characters, Hamlet did not let outside sources sway his perception and perspective on the situation. For example, Laertes had insisted that nothing could be said or done in order for him to change his mind on acting upon his own vengeance, yet Claudius’ words had done just that, and Laertes ended up paying the price when he was killed upon his own poisoned sword.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.v.90). Hamlet is about a young prince who is mourning the loss of his father. He then tries to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius because he poisoned his father. Throughout the play Hamlet’s behavior starts to change which causes him to become mad. The theory about all this is a Psychological Approach.

Through the entirety of the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, the characters were overcome with the need for revenge as the outcome of many deaths. Therefore, no one was happy through “Hamlet” and it resulted in a tragedy. The character Hamlet played a big role in turning towards revenge and never would classify himself as being happy. Hamlet displays positive and negative behavior throughout the play. Hamlet exhibits strengths and weaknesses as well, although his weaknesses of over-thinking, bitterness, and his inability to accept the death of his father overshadow his strengths.