The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in Hamlet Essay example -- Ha

The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in crossroadsThe Shakespearean play, Hamlet, is a story of revenge and the way the characters in the play respond to grief and the demands of loyalty. The importance of Fortinbras and Laertes in the play is an issue much discussed, analysed and critiqued. Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide pivotal points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet as they are imperative to the secret plan of the play and the final gag rule. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three raw men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to avenge their fathers deaths. The way the each comes to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of chief(prenominal) contrasts between the three.Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Shakespeare has made them similar in many aspects to provide a greater base for comparison when avenging their respective fathers deaths. Hamlet and Laertes get by Ophelia. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to be his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg, and Laertes at France. Both are admired for their swordsmenship. Both men love and respected their fathers, and display deviousness when plotting to avenge their fathers deaths. Hamlets response to grief is a trait starkly contrasted by Laertes. Laertes response to the death of his father is immediate. He is publicly angry, and he leads the public riot occuring outside Castle Elsinore, which Polonius death and quick burial served as a catalyst. He is suspicious, as is evident in his computer address to Claudius. How came he dead? Ill not be juggled with. / To hell, allegiance(Act 4, 5130). Hamlet, however is very private with his grief. His mourning for King Hamlet is long and drawn out, two months after his fathers death, he is still observed to be wearing ...suits of solemn black.(Act1, 278) Claudius and Gertru de comment on his unhappiness, however it is not until Hamlets first soliloquy that the audition is made aware of the depth of his suffering. Although dismayed at his mothers quick remarriage to his uncle, Hamlet suspects nothing of his fathers murder until the ghost discloses this to him.When brought to the call of avenging their fathers deaths, Laertes is fast to act, he is wants revenge and he wants ... ...s assumption to the lands he sought to attain, and the throne he ironically set out to avenge.As is hinted throughout the play, the state of Denmark has become corrupt. Marcellus famous quote in that respect is something rotten in the state of Denmark(Act 1, 590) is complemented by various other observations. ...tis an unweeded garden,(Act 1, 2134) and our state to be disjoint and out of frame,(Act 1, 220). In Elizabethan times it was generally thought that a monarch had to have rightful claim to the throne, lest the state descend into chaos. Fortinbras is essential to this overlying story line, as he is fundamental to the resolution of the corruption. The overlying story line is to make what was bad become good, and thus a complete resolution is needed. Fortinbras is instrumental in this resolution as the only nobleman left to claim the throne rightfully, Hamlet bequeaths not only the land that Old Fortinbras lost, but also the state of Denmark. and then Fortinbras attains what he had vowed to avenge, and the play comes full circle. All that made the state of Denmark rotten, all those involved with the corruption, are now dead hence the overlying story plot is fully resolved.