Hamlet And Laertes Compare Contrast Essay

Both men have had much in common with each other since the beginning because their family conflicts expanded drastically to an extent where they prompted collateral emotions and plotted detailed strategies. As expected, Hamlet and Laertes are second generation sons who are future prominent leaders, but their fathers are in the way from achieving such expectations. Both of them battle family conflicts as their fathers hold them back by hindering them under surveillance. With Laertes’ situation, Polonius is too overprotective of his children, especially towards his son. He’s very secretive about his supervision and only confides his plots to close characters. Because Laertes is away at Paris, Polonius is unable to spy on his son. He orders his …show more content…
Even though Laertes doesn’t immediately catch onto his father’s acts, Hamlet does grasp onto his stepfather’s plans early on. While Claudius is suspicious of Hamlet’s behavior and motives, he sends two of his so-called ‘friends’ to spy on him while he’s away at England. As a precaution, he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “delay it not, I’ll have him hence to-night. Away, for everything is seal’d and done” (3.4.55-56). Claudius persuades the Queen he’s doing this to protect her son and help him overcome his mental illness. Privately, he’s only overprotective of Hamlet because he fears his reputation can be destroyed as he knows too much. Hamlet has already caught onto Claudius’ tactics, and by the looks of it, he’s more than prepared to dispose of Claudius’ reign as king. Without hesitation, Claudius sends Hamlet to England for his sudden death to emerge so his reign as king can continue. Despite the reasoning, their fathers spied on them for different types of protection; provoking family affairs to come up and progress. With the behavior their fathers’ display, Hamlet and Laertes have a similar background and are starting to reflect small