Why Is Laertes Important In Hamlet

Laertes, son of Polonius and brother to Ophelia spends most of his time during the play in france away at college, but makes his first appearance in Denmark during king Claudius’s coronation. Before his departure towards france Laertes talks to Ophelia to warn her about Prince Hamlet, and here is where we see a character trait Laertes excerpts, which is the care and respect he brings to both his sister and father as evidenced in his line during act one scene three, line 1 in which he states to Ophelia, “My necessaries are embarked. Farewell. And, sister, as the winds give benefit and convoy is assistant, do not sleep, But let me hear from you.” During his hiatus in france Laertes hears the news about the slaying his father, this, naturally enrages Laertes and in the midst of his uncontrollable rage storms back to Denmark with nobles at his side in attempt to overthrow the crown in order to avenge his father. In act 4 scene five during the return of Laertes he shows the …show more content…
Laertes acts as a main driving force of the story once everything hits the fan with a majority of the characters, you can almost compare him to a sponge in a sense as he soaks up many of the exaggerated personalities the characters begin to develop as the play goes on and spits out a perfect counterpart to keep the play transitioning smoothly. When Ophelia goes mad, and begins to act passive aggressive towards everyone she begins to calm down once she sees Laertes due to him being the only character she can trust and feel close to, He acts as a pawn for king Claudius to do his dirty work, and most importantly acts as sort of a rival for Hamlet and ends up being the one who not only ends Hamlets life, but also exposes Claudius for the true monster he