Foils In Hamlet

Hamlet What would you do if you discovered yourself that your very own blood relative murdered your father? Or if that same relative soon after married your newly widowed mother? Would you be able to keep your sanity or would you, too, slowly slip into madness?

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, Shakespeare recounts the story of a prince who is given the task to avenge the death of his father. The play is centered around Hamlet, a student whose studies are interrupted by his father’s death. After returning to the kingdom, Hamlet encounters a ghost claiming to bear the soul of his father. Upon this confrontation, Hamlet is faced with evidence that his uncle, Claudius, murdered his father, Hamlet I. As a result, Hamlet strategizes to perform revenge on Claudius for his malefaction. Hamlet, the main protagonist, displays a multitude of dynamic traits that emerge as the play develops.

In the tragedy, Hamlet, written in the Elizabethan era, the idea of revenge is showcased by Prince Hamlet, in his pursuit to honour his promise of revenge to his father, King Hamlet. The reader follows Prince Hamlet as he struggles to accept that oppression, force and murder are necessary to avenge his uncle Claudius. Throughout the play, the reader watches Hamlets dignity, sanity and sense of reason deteriorate, as he struggles desperately to bring revenge onto his father’s suspected murderer, King Claudius. In Act one scene five, Hamlet is confronted by his father's ghost and is assigned with the duty of getting revenge on his uncle Claudius.

Foil characters are often used to showcase the main character in a literary work. These minor characters have contrasting traits with the main character. However, sometimes the foil character shares the same traits as the main character, but the foil display their traits in a way that the main character does not. This helps to show the strengths and weaknesses of the main character. In Hamlet by Shakespeare, the characters Laertes and Fortinbras serve as foil characters to Hamlet.

A Deeper Analysis on Character Foils of Hamlet in Hamlet Character foils often allow the reader to better understand a protagonist’s personality and desires. In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Horatio, Claudius, and Laertes are exemplar character foils for the protagonist, Hamlet, and under further examination, the play suggests that these character foils help the reader to really resonate with Hamlet and depict the contrasts and similarities between Hamlet and other characters in the play. These character foils are important and significant in highlighting another character’s flaws and traits in which they may not have, compared to another character in the play. To begin with, Horatio plays a huge role in being the character foil for Hamlet.

In “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, William Shakespeare uses the sayings and behaviors of many of his minor characters to show his audiences the true characteristics of the protagonist, Prince Hamlet. This literary device is called a foil. A foil is a character whose traits help to clarify the character of the protagonist. In this famous play, Prince Hamlet has many foils. Laertes is the most effective foil to Hamlet because of how his life and reactions compare to that of Hamlet.

Deception: the act of deceiving someone. Throughout The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark deception is a prominent theme. Hamlet uses deception to get revenge on Claudius and restore his father’s honor. In the process of this Hamlet ends up deceiving and hurting the others around him ultimately causing the end of a family’s rule and existence.

To be a foil character, one must “contrast with other characters in order to highlight particular qualities of the other characters.” Throughout Hamlet, four prominent characters are foil characters to Hamlet: Laertes, Fortinbras, Horatio and Claudius. In many cases, Hamlet and the foil characters react differently for each other in varying situations but yet show similarities in their reactions. The relationship created between Hamlet and Laertes takes a shift from the beginning of the book towards the end.

Jordan Johnson Ms. Beaudion 2/10/15 Hamlet Literary Analysis Conflicting Personalities In the play “Hamlet”, written by William Shakespeare, King Claudius and his step son Hamlet had a great amount of tension between each other. Most of the tension was brought from Hamlet.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet takes the audience on a journey of a prince who is caught between two spheres of a society in which he attempts to discard the expected norms of a prince to converge to his new ideas on the type of man he wants to live as. The Renaissance was a period in the 16th century that challenged ideals that were limited and outdated. Hamlet is a humanist figure who lives according to the humanist ideals and this leads him to questioning the society and his role as a prince in the 16th century. During the play we see how Hamlet is in constant conflict with the morality of exacting revenge and his new learning and education. It is against this backdrop that I will discuss the argument of Arnold Kettle’s “From Hamlet to Lear” in relation the extracts I have analysed.

Throughout the ages, the answer to the question of life’s purpose has eluded and confused many. Shakespeare creates the “To be, or not to be” speech and uses intentional structure to reveal Hamlet’s paradigm on life. After Hamlet is called to vengeance by his father’s ghost, he goes about his “antic disposition” (2.1.181) to begin his plot to murder his uncle, Claudius. He is conflicted by this plan of action because while he feels an obligation to help his father escape purgatory, committing murder is against his religion.