Friday, October 11, 2019
Laertes in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- GCSE English Literature Cours
Laertes in Hamletà à à à à à à à à à à à à In the Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet, the reader or viewer meets a dashing young man who is key to the climax of the tragedy, and key to the fulfillment of the Ghostââ¬â¢s admonition to Hamlet. He is Laertes, whose character forms the subject of this essay. à Marvin Rosenberg describes Laertes in his essay, ââ¬Å"Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocratâ⬠: à Laertes is a dashing, romantic figure who excites striking, spectacular moments in the play. Not much attention has been paid to him by scholar-critics and theatre observers; for all his activity in the later acts, he is not much cursed with inward struggle ââ¬â while being surrounded by others fascinating for their infernos of inwardness. After Laertesââ¬â¢ brief, bright introduction in I,i and I,iii, he disappears from the play ââ¬â and Denmark ââ¬â until he returns at the head of a rebellion in IV,v. . . (87). à Laertes makes his appearance in the drama after Marcellus, Barnardo and Horatio have already seen the Ghost and have trifled with it in an effort to prompt it to communicate with them. Horatio and Marcellus exit the ramparts of Elsinore intending to enlist the aid of Hamlet, who is dejected by the ââ¬Å"oââ¬â¢erhasty marriageâ⬠to Hamlet Iââ¬â¢s wife less than two monthââ¬â¢s after the funeral of Hamletââ¬â¢s father (Gordon 128). After this scene, Laertes is one of many in attendance at a post-coronation social gathering of the court at Elsinore. Laertes, like Fortinbras a rival of Hamlet (Kermode 1138), comes with his father, Polonius, who manipulates both him and his sister (Boklund 122).G. Wilson Knight says, ââ¬Å"Instinctively the creatures of earthââ¬âLaertes, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, league themselves with Claudius... ...on Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992. à Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html à Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnamââ¬â¢s Sons, 1907ââ¬â21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html à West, Rebecca. ââ¬Å"A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.â⬠Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957. à Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. ââ¬Å"Shakespeare.â⬠Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.
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