Blog Post #2: Hamlet, Acts I-III

The main point of Hamlet is to demonstrate, through example of how it ruined Hamlet’s life, how poisonous a force revenge is in one’s life, as it was in Hamlet’s, and how revenge is only achieved through our own autonomous actions and decisions. For all intents and purposes after all, revenge is what landed Hamlet six feet under at the end of the play, and it was by no means anyone else’ fault but his own. However, to stick within the first three acts, revenge is what drives Hamlet to act and speak as he does. Hamlet’s actions and his words are completely in line with his intentions, values, and goals, whereas Laertes’ are not.

Words and actions are important to note whilst approaching characterization. Within the first three acts of Hamlet, Laertes’ actions are not in line with what he says to his sister, Ophelia. What he says to her in Act I, scene III makes him appear to be a loving brother who wants nothing more for his sister than to protect her. However, he is also leaving to go away to France to pursue his own interests and subsequently leaving his supposedly beloved sister behind. He is then absent from the play until well after Act III. This is where his actions fail to back up his words. On top of that, too, is Ophelia’s remark after his advice to her about Hamlet which only serves to show yet another break from what Laertes thinks of his own character, and what others do.

LAERTES:

Be wary then, best safety lies in fear;

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.

OPHELIA:

I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,

As watchman to my heart: but, good my brother,

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,

Show me the steep and thorny ways to heaven,

Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless libertine,

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,

And recks not his own rede.

In essence, this passage captures what, to me, Laertes’ real relationship with Ophelia is. They are obviously family and care about one another, unlike the estranged Hamlet and his uncle-slash-stepfather, but their relationship seems like it is also a bit of a facade -  at least on Laertes’ part. Ophelia calls him on his insincere advice, but he neither repents nor admits to anything before he leaves for France. Laertes is a man of fronts and facades, and his decision to be such a man is what lands him in the same boat as Hamlet when the curtain closes.