Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are all reflections on each other Essay

The world is a looking glass. This nonliteral statement of 19th century English novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray, encapsulates the idea of theorizeions of ourselves being spare exclusively around us in different aspects of the world. Whether in the words, carry outs or attitudes of former(a)s, we tend to control something of ourselves.Shakespeare employs this theme of reflection in his works much(prenominal) as in Antony and Cleopatra where Caesar recognises that Antony is, as stated by Maecenas, a enormous mirror set before him and this reflects to Caesar both the dimensions of he and his fellow triumvir, atomic number 82 Caesar to the realisation that the world is non big enough for the two of them as canister be understand from we could not st wholly together/ In the whole world. Reflection is thus a recurrent motif in Shakespeares works, and is a key issue which arises in the course of the fetch juncture. critical point is a play which involves a lot of r eflection and mirroring in various ways.One of the most notable is the play within a play or The Mo affairtrap which mirrors the relationship King hamlet had with Gertrude as well as the elbow room in which King juncture was murdered. Hamlet himself sees performance as a way of reflecting inner corruption holding the mirror up to nature. The idea of mirroring or doubling can promote be seen in Shakespeares physical exertion of literary techniques like hendiadys such as in Hamlets reflective To be, or not to be soliloquy where he says, slings and arrows of come forthrageous fortune and whips and scorns of time or later in the play where Hamlet says to Horatio, Fortunes buffets and rewards. Shakespeares use of hendiadys helps to place emphasis on the message he is hard to get across as the words mirror each other and act as a sort of par everyelism, creating a balance in the phrases. But even more than than notable in the play with regards reflection, is the manner in which the characters of Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras reflect on each other. These three characters are all young men who, at some point, have lost or will lose a father.Hamlet has returned to Denmark from school in Wittenberg to bemoan his fathers death and is so much in affliction that he says, How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable/ Seem to me all the uses of this world The use of lists and exclamation marks emphasises the extent of his grief and make us interpret with him. Young Fortinbras has likewise lost his father, Fortinbras, as we come to know from Horatios speech that King Hamlet Did slay this Fortinbras. Laertes, in the course of the play, besides returns from France to Denmark to find that his father, Polonius has been killight-emitting diode.They thus reflect on themselves in that they have all lost their fathers, but furthermore in that they all taste to strike back the deaths of their fathers. Hamlet is charged by the signature of King Hamlet to avenge his fo ul and most unnatural murder The exclamation mark and use of striking adjectives highlight that this is an order, a duty which Hamlet has to carry proscribed, and he expresses his feelings about this in the heroic couplet, The time is out of joint O cursi d spite,/ That ever I was born to set it right. Fortinbras, likewise, is seeking to avenge the death of his father, King Fortinbras of Norway by regaining the land lost by his father in war, and waging war on Denmark. When Hamlet sees Fortinbras flatusing his forces through Denmark to Poland, he draws parallels between his cause and that of Fortinbras. Similarly, Laertes, on finding out about his fathers death, declares, Ill be revenged/ Most throughly for my father. Hamlet recognises the similarity between his cause and that of Laertes and states later on in the play, For by the trope of my cause, I see the portraiture of his. However, it is open to interpretation whether or not Hamlet was referring to revenge as his cause, for as Philip Edward argues, Harold Jenkins points out that Hamlet simply does not recognise himself as a proposed dupe of Laertes revenge, and thus Hamlet simply meant, when he made that statement, that as a son grieving his father, he should have ingestd that grief makes maven act strangely. Nevertheless, Hamlet does recognise an aspect of himself reflected in that of Laertes. Thus, Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras all seek to avenge the death of their fathers, but they each work towards this end with varying methods.Whilst Hamlet is the vacillating, hesitant integrity searching for proof and taking his time, and Fortinbras is the calculate but quick-acting, resolute one, Laertes is the more aggressive natural revenge hero. Hamlet spends so much time dithering and searching for proof that the ghost has to reappear to whet thy almost blunted invention. The use of words associated with knives or daggers, that is whet and blunted, remind us that Hamlets purpose is to kill to ave nge his father, rather than his inactivity.Hamlet says of Fortinbras, on the other hand, that his olfactory modality is with divine ambition puffed and thus he is able to lead the Norwegian army to fight everyplace a little musical composition of ground. Laertes brutal, aggressive approach can be seen not save in the way he breaks into the Danish palace to confront Claudius over his fathers death but also how he says of Hamlet that he would cut his throat Ithchurch The aggression in this statement is emphasised by the use of alliteration in throat and thchurch.Thus, their varying methods are comparable, so that we can identify from one to the other the preferred path or more successful path to have taken. Whilst Laertes and Fortinbras are thus more typical Aristotelian tragic heroes, in that they have consistency as once their personality and motivations are established, they continue throughout the play. Hamlet, on the other hand, travel myopic of this as he dithers and alm ost loses sight of his goal. This sheds light on a reason for which Shakespeare appears to have made use of reflections in his work- that of telltale(a) shortcomings.Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras reflect on each other in such a manner that they highlight the shortcomings of each other. As Shakespeare states in his Sonnet 77, Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear. The whole idea is that our reflections make us more aware of our flaws, and this can be seen where Hamlet, having seen Fortinbras march his army through Denmark, says, How all occasions do inform against me,/ And spur my softened revenge He is reminded, by the reflection of his cause in that of Fortinbras, that whilst Fortinbras is active and resolute, his revenge is dull.This idea of reflections showing our flaws or shortcomings is also employed by Shakespeare in Richard 11 where the deposed king hopes to see his sorrows etched in his reflection and states, submit me that glass, and therein will I read. /No deeper wrinkles yet? The alliteration in give and glass as well as the use of rhetorical question help to highlight the kings desperation to see his sorrows in his reflection. Reflections also act, in Shakespeare, as a trigger or a call to action.When Hamlet sees Fortinbras and his army, it spurs his revenge so that he is led to say in a rhyming couplet, Oh from this time forth,/ My thoughts be crashing(a) or be nothing worth. His use of the graphic adjective cover emphasises his resolution and is rather reminiscent of the sort of decisiveness that we would expect from a typical revenge hero. Furthermore, when Hamlet sees the portraiture of Laertes cause in the image of his, he is led to regret his outburst to Laertes at their battle at Ophelias grave and to court Laertes favours.Ophelia, in the course of the play, refers to Hamlet metaphorically as The glass of fashion. He appears to have been the reflection of what noblemen should be the one to be emulated. All noblemen in Ha mlets Denmark, like the nine of Shakespeares England, were expected to remark and imitate the manners of the prince. Thus, we can represent why Hamlet is, in the words of Claudius, loved of the distracted face pack and why Fortinbras speaks of him so highly.Nevertheless, following his act of madness and outburst at Ophelia, Ophelia mourns that this noble mind, this glass of fashion, is quite, quite down The repetition of quite relays to us how greatly Hamlet has changed from the reflection of nobility that he used to be. It is also interesting to note that Hamlet sees a reflection of his cause in that of Fortinbras and Laertes towards the end of the play in a form of anagnorisis. However, at the jump of the play, he seems deeply sceptical about the ability of anything to reflect him truly. match to Philippa Kelly, he mocks verbal and physical display as having the incapacity to have-to doe with me truly. In his mocking summation of Laertes even in the terminal act of the play , he appears sure that nothing and no one could reflect Laertes he his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more. His argument is that words fall short of describing Laertes greatness, but earlier on we know that he has declared that he sees a reflection of his cause in that of Laertes.Thus, although Hamlet, ab initio, comes across as one who feels that nothing can reflect him, nothing can touch him truly or body him forth as would the dissection of his organs, he comes to realise that reflections are indeed everywhere as can be interpreted from William Thackerays statement, The world is a looking glass. In the actions, words, causes and attitudes of others, particularly Laertes and Fortinbras, he sees a reflection of his own self and is, from these reflections, made aware of his shortcomings and spurred to action in eventually avenging the death of his father.