Character analysis
Laertes
in Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia, serving as Hamlet's main foil throughout the play. While Hamlet is stuck in a cycle of philosophical doubt, Laertes is characterized by his quick, passionate actions—something Shakespeare highlights by paralleling their grief and revenge stories.
At the start of the play, Laertes is a refined young courtier getting ready to return to Paris. He takes a moment to caution Ophelia against trusting Hamlet's feelings (I.iii). His life is turned upside down in Act IV when he learns that Polonius has been killed by Hamlet. He rushes back to Elsinore with a mob following him, bursting into the throne room and recklessly confronting Claudius (IV.v)—a scene that showcases both his bravery and his dangerous impulsiveness. Witnessing Ophelia's madness sharpens his anger, turning it into something colder and more calculated.
Claudius skillfully manipulates that anger, convincing Laertes to join the plot to kill Hamlet with a poisoned foil (IV.vii). In the final duel (V.ii), Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned blade but is fatally injured in the process. In his most morally significant moment, he confesses the betrayal and seeks forgiveness from Hamlet before dying. This reconciliation reveals a conscience beneath his fiery exterior and sets him apart from the purely villainous characters.
Key traits: loyalty to family, impulsiveness, vulnerability to manipulation, and a hidden sense of honor that emerges too late to save him.
Who they are
Laertes is the son of Polonius, brother of Ophelia, and serves as a significant supporting figure in Hamlet. He is introduced as a polished young nobleman in Elsinore — cultured enough to return to the French court and confident enough to dispense advice to his sister in I.iii with the ease of someone used to being listened to. However, beneath that courtly exterior lies a current of fierce, almost uncontrollable passion. Shakespeare presents him as worldly so the audience can see how far tragedy drags him from that composure. His role in the play is both structural and dramatic: he acts as a mirror to Hamlet, showing what the Prince might become if thought is completely overtaken by action.
Arc & motivation
Laertes begins the play with a sense of privileged anticipation — Paris calls, and his main concerns are his sister's virtue and his own freedom. This stable existence shatters in Act IV when he learns of Polonius's death while in France. His motivation shifts drastically: he is consumed by a desire for revenge and the protection of his family's honour. He returns to Denmark without a plan, but with a rage-filled mob, storming the throne room in IV.v. This initial eruption of feeling undergoes a key transformation; witnessing Ophelia's madness in the same scene turns his hot rage into something cold and calculated. By IV.vii, he remains calm enough to negotiate the finer details of poisoning a sword — a chilling detail that marks his full descent into moral compromise. His arc culminates in the duel of V.ii, where he becomes the instrument of a plot he helped create, yet regains enough moral clarity to confess, forgive, and implicate Claudius in his final moments.
Key moments
- I.iii — The farewell counsel: Laertes lectures Ophelia on Hamlet's untrustworthiness before departing for Paris. This scene demonstrates his protective instincts, worldly self-assurance, and, given Polonius's almost comical repetition of the same warnings, a family culture of anxious control.
- IV.v — The storming of Elsinore: Laertes bursts in demanding his father and threatening to condemn his own soul in pursuit of justice ("To hell, allegiance! vows to the blackest devil!"). This is the play's most impulsive scene, showing Claudius exactly which lever to pull.
- IV.v — Ophelia's appearance: Seeing his sister distribute flowers in a dissociated state, Laertes openly weeps and channels his grief into a murderous resolve. This marks the emotional turning point of his revenge arc.
- IV.vii — The conspiracy: Claudius and Laertes collaborate to design the poisoned foil. Laertes willingly offers to anoint the blade himself, adding the lethal detail that implicates his conscience as much as his actions.
- V.ii — The duel and confession: Mortally wounded by his own poisoned sword, Laertes names Claudius, exchanges forgiveness with Hamlet, and dies. This restores a measure of dignity to a man who nearly lost it entirely.
Relationships in depth
With Hamlet, Laertes is both rival and counterpart. Both are sons seeking revenge for murdered fathers; both are young men of intelligence and emotion. Where Hamlet philosophizes, Laertes acts — and pays the price for it. Their final exchange of forgiveness in V.ii is the play's only moment of true masculine reconciliation, possible only because Laertes regains his honesty at the end.
With Polonius, the bond is genuine and unguarded. There is none of the dramatic irony that shadows Ophelia's relationship with their father; Laertes's grief is straightforward and overwhelming. Polonius's death is not abstract to him — it drives everything that follows.
With Ophelia, Laertes is both brother and protector, occasionally in an uncomfortable way. His speech in I.iii verges on possessiveness, yet in IV.v, his anguish over her madness is one of the most authentic expressions of grief in the play, cutting through the political chaos of Elsinore.
With Claudius, Laertes ultimately becomes a pawn — one who eagerly volunteers for service. Claudius accurately reads his temperament in IV.vii and exploits it methodically, redirecting rebellion into complicity. Laertes's dying accusation of the King represents his late recognition of the manipulation.
Connected characters
- Hamlet
Rival and foil. Laertes mirrors Hamlet as a son seeking to avenge a murdered father, yet acts where Hamlet hesitates. Their enmity culminates in the poisoned duel of V.ii, where both are fatally wounded and ultimately exchange forgiveness—making Laertes the only character Hamlet explicitly pardons at the play's end.
- Polonius
Father. Polonius's murder by Hamlet is the inciting trauma of Laertes's revenge arc. Laertes's love for his father is genuine and fierce, driving him to abandon all caution and return to Denmark with a mob, demanding justice in IV.v.
- Ophelia
Sister and moral anchor. Laertes's opening scene is largely devoted to protecting Ophelia from Hamlet's advances (I.iii). Her descent into madness in Act IV visibly breaks him, converting raw grief into the cold resolve that makes him receptive to Claudius's scheme.
- Claudius
Manipulator. Claudius expertly channels Laertes's fury away from the crown and toward Hamlet, co-designing the poisoned-foil and envenomed-wine plot in IV.vii. Laertes is willing but ultimately a pawn; his dying words implicate Claudius directly, sealing the king's fate.
- Gertrude
Witness to grief. Gertrude delivers the news of Ophelia's drowning to Laertes (IV.vii), a scene that crystallizes his anguish and steels his murderous intent. Their interaction is brief but pivotal in accelerating the catastrophe.
Use this in your essay
Laertes as foil: How does Shakespeare use Laertes to critique, rather than simply contrast, Hamlet's paralysis? Does swift action prove any more effective than prolonged deliberation in the play's moral landscape?
Manipulation and agency: What moral responsibility does Laertes hold for the catastrophe in Act V? Consider how Claudius exploits grief over reason and what this implies about the vulnerability of the bereaved.
The ethics of deathbed reconciliation: Does Laertes's confession and plea for forgiveness in V.ii count as genuine redemption, or does it arrive too late to hold moral weight? How is last-minute repentance framed elsewhere in the play?
Gender and protection: Analyze Laertes's role as Ophelia's guardian in I.iii against his failure to protect her in Act IV. What does this trajectory reveal about the limitations of patriarchal 'protection' in Elsinore?
Honour and its corruption: Laertes frequently invokes honour while agreeing to a devious assassination plot. Trace how Shakespeare portrays honour as something that can be weaponized against the very person who claims to uphold it.