Hamlet- Comparison of Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras

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Hamlet Essay In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet three of the crucial characters in the play are all tying to seek revenge for their father’s homicidal deaths. Although the three men share a common goal their methods to accomplishing the task only share some similarities, this makes Laertes, Fortinbras and Hamlet very interesting to compare. First of all, Laertes’ father Polonius was murdered by prince Hamlet during one of his spying schemes. Laertes loved his father, or at least respected him deeply; which he shows through his deep dedication to avenging Polonius’ death. Laertes unlike Hamlet and Fortinbras is dangerously upfront about his revenge and will stop at nothing until he deems his judgement given. At one point Laertes even states he’d be willing “To cut [Hamlet’s] throat i' th’ church” (Act IV, scene vii, line 140)This quote shows how Laertes will stop at nothing to avenge his father even if it means making himself damned for eternity, along with the culprit, However this quote serves another purpose it defining how very different Laertes and Hamlet are. Since it is the direct opposite of what Hamlet does when he sees Claudius praying (Hamlet refuses to kill Claudius). Simply put, Laertes moves quickly and acts rashly in his anger, choosing to act first and apologize later. Which he admits to, when he speaks “I am justly killed with mine own treachery.” (Act V, Scene ii, line 323) Second of the men is the prince of Norway, young Fortinbras. Old Fortinbras was murdered by Old Hamlet on the battlefield. Originally, although he does not say it directly like Laertes the reader can infer that he is trying to take revenge for his father by taking back the land he lost. Therefore, restoring his honor. However he is stopped by his uncle, the current king of Norway and so he devises a plot to pretend to take over a piece of Polish land. When in actuality he is

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