Hamlet: Pulling It All Together

If Fortinbras is a foil to Hamlet, so too then is Laertes.  All three are sons who have lost a father in violent ways.  In what ways is Laertes similar and different from Hamlet and Fortinbras?

• This character has a significant impact on the perception of Hamlet's and Fortinbras' traits and wills.
• However, from a much broader perspective, Laertes appears to be the polar opposite of Hamlet, with Fortinbras being the most stable of the three; although all three have just experienced the death of their parents and swear vengeance on the murderer, the way they deal with their desires to carry it out and finally commit it varies.
• On the one hand, despite having clear motives, Hamlet, full of rage and impotence, is overcome by cowardice and his inability to act.
• This inability to accept his father's death clashes with Laertes' motivation to act, which is too impulsive. These two are at the extremes because Laertes tends to act rashly, without giving much thought to the actions that should be appropriate to his plan, he does not consider the consequences, and he only acts based on emotion.
• This contrasts with Fortinbras and his ability to think and act according to the situation; he can think coldly about the more convenient actions, and despite having a strong desire to travel to distant lands to exact revenge on his father, he is calmer and acts on logic.
• Despite these differences, they share several similarities besides the fact that all three lost their fathers; the main similarity is the respect they had for the authority of their respective kings, the three admired their fathers for their labors to the point of committing such great revenge in honor of their memories, all three sacrifice great things for this reason and on their way they end up killing several people.

Three sons enter the play …. only one wins.  Which son wins and why?

• Fortinbras, I believe, is the winner of the three sons, and not just because he is the only one still alive at the end of the play.
• The concept of life and death is used very sparingly to determine the winner of the three characters; just because Hamlet and Laertes died does not mean that they were not successful in their plans and were unable to exact their revenge.
• So, in this sense, the three won by carrying out their plan and killing their parents' murderer; however, the trigger that Fortinbras is the winner comes from the combination of reasoning and emotion in the development of their characters and how they carried out each objective.
• On the one hand, although Hamlet kills Claudius, it takes him a long time to come out of his cowardice and act, which affects his sanity in some ways; as the play progressed, he became more irritated and acted against people who were not his uncles, such as Ophelia and his mother.
• He kills Claudius, but his health and cowardice cost him a significant advantage in his fight against the other two.
• On the other hand, Laertes manages to kill the murderer of his sister and father and is not as affected by his disability as Hamlet, but he fails to use logic and is motivated solely by emotion, he acts with too much strength and motivation but does not analyze the situation well and does not think very well about the consequences, he only wanted to kill Hamlet without thinking about other aspects or how Claudius managed to manipulate him to also emerge victoriously.
• This leaves us with Fortinbras, who is the winner because he can use logic and emotion to exact the best revenge.
• Despite his depression as a result of his father's death, he uses logic to exact good revenge and command an army to take over and appropriate Denmark.
• His feelings are a part of his motivation, but he is not consumed by rage; on the contrary, he plans his steps very well and manages to dig with the kingdom and stay alive without even fighting directly with others.
• His mental and emotional stability are crucial in winning over the other two characters.

What might Shakespeare be trying to convey with this particular outcome?

• Shakespeare's goal with this outcome is to emphasize the importance of reason and emotion in people's desires. The play's theme is retribution and insanity; all three characters are motivated by this, but their acting styles are quite different.
• The author tries to emphasize the importance of reason in avoiding being overwhelmed by emotion and committing unwanted acts through Fortinbras, the only one to come out of his plan alive and the obvious winner.
• Unlike Hamlet and Laertes, he triumphs by using logic and reason while also being motivated by his feelings without allowing them to control him.
• This conveys the triumph of reason over emotion, while also acknowledging the importance of sensitivity in the development and success of each individual's purpose.

What are your final thoughts on Shakespeare’s message on thematic subjects:

1. Duty: Shakespeare expands on this concept concerning an individual's responsibility or motivation to feel compelled by various circumstances to act in a certain way.

   • Throughout the play, the author emphasizes the significance of this, making it the central desire that drives the plot forward.
   • The sense of duty is what motivates Hamlet to carry out all of his vengeance in the first place; the memory of his father is what compels him to carry out this entire plan and ultimately kills him.
   • This is true for the majority of the characters; duty compels them to go so far as to murder people to fulfill their responsibilities.
   • This is the most important thematic subject in the entire play, and Shakespeare emphasizes it through the characters' acting and thinking.
   • Retribution, while considered a fundamental theme in Hamlet, is only a result of the duty that each character feels towards his desires, as well as the influence of other characters on each one.

2. Action vs. Inaction: Shakespeare, in my opinion, perfectly conveys how fearful feelings and situations define our ability to act or not act.

   • The inability to act is frequently associated with an individual's cowardice and weakness; he does not act because he does not want to.
   • However, he manages to convey the emotional process of decision-making and the importance of character development through Hamlet and Fortinbras;
   • Hamlet is an example of how times can be so overwhelming and intense that they limit the ability to act, as well as being afraid of the consequences of the environment around him.
   • It demonstrates how, despite having a motivation, it is sometimes insufficient to act, and that this is not necessarily bad, but is due to the emotional construction of the character, which is, of course, unique to each one.
   • Shakespeare demonstrates the courage required to carry out the actions through Fortinbras, which Hamlet could not be during the play, and transmits how reason and maturity can lead to success
   • It is important to have a balance between both and to understand that everything is a result of the environment in which the character is placed, his perception of fear, and his capacity to understand what he can do with those actions.

3. Spying/Distrust: In general, Hamlet develops this theme very well, emphasizing how distrust and espionage can be detrimental to healthy coexistence.

   • They introduce evil into the play, and it is clear from the actions of each character how it poisons the character of each character, resulting in destructive consequences.
   • Shakespeare cleverly develops this concept, showing how revenge and distrust poison Hamlet's heart, or how Claudius appears to see espionage as the only solution to his problems.
   • This appears to be a problem in the future and is what figuratively kills them; Shakespeare develops the consequences of these events in the characters and the play's climax.

4. Appearance vs. Reality: Shakespeare uses this concept throughout the play to emphasize how appearances are frequently different from each character's reality.

   • At the most basic level, the way some characters appear to other characters on the one hand and the audience on the other is frequently different.
   • The author develops this concept intelligently, demonstrating how, on the one hand, it can be useful and a form of defense in pursuing one's goals, but it can also be catastrophic and deceptive.
   • To carry out his revenge, Hamlet appears to feign insanity; the appearance is far from reality, and it is used as a method to help him avoid raising suspicions and continue with his plans; it is used in a positive sense, and it demonstrates how appearances, despite being far from reality, can be beneficial.
   • However, it also demonstrates how dangerous this can be through Claudius, who, as the murderer of the former king and provoking a positive image in the eyes of the rest, will have catastrophic consequences for the kingdom and has consequences.
   • Claudius receives his Karma, but the irony is that he never demonstrates how he pays for his crimes in public and maintains his good image until his death.

5. Mortality: Through Hamlet's concerns and the final scene, Shakespeare affirms the inevitability of death and the natural course of life.

   • The development of this concept appears interesting to me, particularly in the manner in which the author develops it; although it would seem obvious that death is everyone's fate, it is intriguing how the author uses Hamlet to represent all those concerns about what happens after death and what our true destiny is.
   • The complexities of life and death are seen, not only in the actual deaths that occur in the play, but also in all the reflections made about the natural course of life, issues such as suicide, and what happens to us after we die.
   • Shakespeare does an excellent job of creating characters concerning this concept and the realization that everyone has the same fate, including religious questions about the separation of heaven and hell based on our actions in life.