In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare utilizes foil characters to illuminate Hamlet’s positive and negative attributes and thus portray him as a dynamic character. Shakespeare illustrates the commonality between Hamlet and the foil characters, Ophelia, Laertes, and Fortinbras, through the tragic events that consume their lives and their emotional responses. Furthermore, Shakespeare emphasizes the foil characters’ respective contrasts from Hamlet to expose his resilience, fairness, and procrastination. Ultimately, Shakespeare uses the foils to depict Hamlet’s both honorable and dishonorable feature to, in turn, convey his complex nature.
Ophelia serves as a foil for Hamlet as she likewise encounters extreme grief; however, she responds to …show more content…
Ophelia refers to her father’s death when she sings, “They bore him barefaced on the bier, hey non nonny, hey, nonny, and in his grave rained many a tear. Fare you well, my dove” (Shakespeare Act IV, Scene v, Line 164). She demonstrates the similarity between Polonius and King Hamlet’s death in their unexpected natures by immediately losing her wits and singing about his corpse. Furthermore, Ophelia presents her emotional similarity to Hamlet through indulging in feelings of depression and hopelessness after her father’s death. For example, she tells Laertes, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (IV, v, 174). Laertes responds to her words by describing, “Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favor and to prettiness” (IV, v, 186). Through her focus on the shortness of life and her visible anguish, Ophelia highlights her depression similar to that Hamlet experiences after losing faith in the goodness of mankind. She, however, illustrates her key …show more content…
Shakespeare indicates the Laertes’ direct parallel to Hamlet through his suspicion regarding the death of his father, Polonius. While conversing with King Claudius, Laertes asks, “How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with. 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 world I give to negligence” (IV, v, 130). Laertes highlights his distrust in King Claudius due to the unruly circumstances of his father’s death, which corresponds to the rejection of Claudius as a father figure by Hamlet after King Hamlet’s death. Moreover, Laertes’ intense hatred for his father’s murderer and serious vow for reprisal signify his inherent similarity to Hamlet. He specifies that he wants “to cut his [Hamlet’s] throat I’ th’ church” (IV, vii, 127) to King Claudius. Laertes shows his rage and resentment of Hamlet, which mirrors the revulsion Hamlet fosters towards Claudius when he discovers his unlawful murder of King Hamlet. Contrastingly, Laertes exhibits his major division from Hamlet through succumbing to deceit and cheating. He shares, “And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of mountebank, so mortal that, but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood, no
Ophelia serves as a foil for Hamlet as she likewise encounters extreme grief; however, she responds to …show more content…
Ophelia refers to her father’s death when she sings, “They bore him barefaced on the bier, hey non nonny, hey, nonny, and in his grave rained many a tear. Fare you well, my dove” (Shakespeare Act IV, Scene v, Line 164). She demonstrates the similarity between Polonius and King Hamlet’s death in their unexpected natures by immediately losing her wits and singing about his corpse. Furthermore, Ophelia presents her emotional similarity to Hamlet through indulging in feelings of depression and hopelessness after her father’s death. For example, she tells Laertes, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (IV, v, 174). Laertes responds to her words by describing, “Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, she turns to favor and to prettiness” (IV, v, 186). Through her focus on the shortness of life and her visible anguish, Ophelia highlights her depression similar to that Hamlet experiences after losing faith in the goodness of mankind. She, however, illustrates her key …show more content…
Shakespeare indicates the Laertes’ direct parallel to Hamlet through his suspicion regarding the death of his father, Polonius. While conversing with King Claudius, Laertes asks, “How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with. 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 world I give to negligence” (IV, v, 130). Laertes highlights his distrust in King Claudius due to the unruly circumstances of his father’s death, which corresponds to the rejection of Claudius as a father figure by Hamlet after King Hamlet’s death. Moreover, Laertes’ intense hatred for his father’s murderer and serious vow for reprisal signify his inherent similarity to Hamlet. He specifies that he wants “to cut his [Hamlet’s] throat I’ th’ church” (IV, vii, 127) to King Claudius. Laertes shows his rage and resentment of Hamlet, which mirrors the revulsion Hamlet fosters towards Claudius when he discovers his unlawful murder of King Hamlet. Contrastingly, Laertes exhibits his major division from Hamlet through succumbing to deceit and cheating. He shares, “And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of mountebank, so mortal that, but dip a knife in it, where it draws blood, no