Fathers and sons in Hamlet

Fathers and sons in Hamlet

The Similarities

The Differences: Fortinbras

"...I do not know

Why yet I live to say this thing's to do,

Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means

To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me,

Witness this army of such mass and charge,

Led by a delicate and tender prince,

Whose spiritm with divine ambition puff'd

Makes mouths at the invisible event,

Exposing what is mortal and unsure

To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,

Even for an eggshell..."

Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4, Line 43-53

• Each father is murdered (King Hamlet kills Old King Fortinbras, Claudius kills King Hamlet, and Hamlet kills Polonius)
• Each son plots vengeance against their fathers murderer (Hamlet and Laertes partake in private revenge while Young Fortinbras does it publically through his Norwegian military)

"Let for captains

Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage,

For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royal; and for his passage,

The soldier's music and the rite of war

Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this

Beomes the field, but here shows much amiss.

Go, bid the soldiers shoot"

Fortinbras, Act 5, Scene 2, Line 388-396

Theme: Sanity

The parallel three

Unlike Hamlet and Laertes, Fortinbras' response to his father's murder wasn't rash or delayed. He doesn't overanalyze his decisions like Hamlet but he doesn't impulsively act like Laertes either. He is the perfect foil for Hamlet because they are very identical in that they are both heir to a throne that was instead taken by their uncle's, have had their father's murdered over their respective kingdoms, and are both trying to serve their filial duties in revenge. On the other hand, Fortinbras plan of action is different then the other two. Instead of plotting his revenge in secrecy in Act 5, Scene 2 he gathers an army to march over to Denmark and in coincidence, is given the throne by Hamlet. Of all the three sons, Fortinbras, the son who acted sane was the only one to survive.

Quotes: "Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love

May sweep to my revenge."

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5, Line 29-31

"How came he dead? I'll not be juggled wth.

To hell, allegiance! Vows to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!

I dare damnation. To this point I stand,

That both the worlds I give to negligence,

Let come what comes, only I'll be reveng'd"

Laertes, Act 4, Scene 5, Line 129-134

During Hamlet, Shakespeare decided to create three pairs of fathers and sons whom foil the young prince. While each pair share much in common, they all have contrasting characteristics to one another.

• Hamlet and King Hamlet
• Young Fortinbras and Old King Fortinbras
• Laertes and Polonius

Shakespeare's decision in creating three parallel characters in Hamlet was to show how individuals in similar situations react differently to get different outcomes. In the play, it is clear that each son is plotting revenge at different paces controlled by their own sanity. Hamlet's insanity was an act to begin with but as the play unwinded it proved that he had become insane. Laertes' madness did not ignite once his father had passed but when he came back to Elsinore castle and saw the mental health of his sister Ophelia. Fortinbras had been able to keep his sanity throughout the whole play and that is what led him to his final outcome.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die-to sleep,"

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, Line 56-60

"I'll be your foil, Laertes."

Laertes, Act 5, Scene 2, Line 240

La Fin

"[Aside] And yet it is almost against my conscience."

Laertes, Act 5, Scene 2, Line 288

The Differences: Laertes

The Differences: Hamlet

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

Claudius, Act 3, Scene 3, Line 97-98

Laertes handles his filial duty to avenge his father at quite the opposite speed that Hamlet does. Instead of absorbing his situation in he rashly comes back to Denmark in Act 4, Scene 5 with an angry mob behind him demanding to know who killed his father so he could seek his revenge immediately. Once Claudius revealed Polonius' murderer and his plans to kill Hamlet in Act 4, Scene 7 Laertes was quick to confide with the New King's plans without asking any questions whatsoever.

"It warms the very sickness in my heart

That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,

'Thus diest thou'."

Laertes, Act 4, Scene 7, Line 55-57

Each son goes a different route in their search for revenge. Hamlet takes a long, indecisive path in which he is unsure of his own actions and logic. This can be justified in Act 2, Scene 2 where he needs the assistance of the travelling actors just to prove to himself that Claudius is a guilty man. Even after the play had been reenacted and the proof was given Hamlet was still unsure. During his one good opportunity to murder Claudius in Act 3, Scene 3 Hamlet goes against himself because he believes Claudius' prayer will save him from his own damnation. In the end, this delay in fulfilling his father's filial duty is what becomes the poison that in which kills him.

Creating two foil charaters to Hamlet is even considered to this day to be outright genius work. By doing so it helped develop and explain his character throughout the play to Shakespeare's audience. Hamlet, the one who delays most of his plans reaches his demise because of his lack of pace. Laertes, the reckless one comes to terms with his own death because he acts too irrationally. On the other hand, Fortinbras survives the tragedy as the new ruler of Denmark because he doesn't succumb to madness due to his father's murder.

"Play something like the murder of my father

Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;"

Hamlet, Act 2 , Scene 2, Line 582-584