How Does Shakespeare Use Character Foils In Hamlet

The interactions people have with others will allow individuals to gain a greater understanding of who they are as a person, and how they chose to live their lives through comparison. These are what creates character foils in literature. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet contains three major character foils that help depict Hamlet's personality, values, and reasonings behind his choices, that are demonstrated through Horatio, Laertes, and Fortinbras.

Firstly, Hamlet’s companion Horatio provides aid to Hamlet throughout the play, displaying qualities that are opposite and similar to Hamlet's, such as Horatio’s sensibility, attentiveness, and loyalty. To demonstrate, Horatio’s sensibility and judicious character is first seen in the beginning of

Think of it.”(Shakespeare 1.4 77-82) Here Horatio warns Hamlet of the possible consequences he will face if he blindly follows the Ghost alone, since Hamlet completely disregards that chance. Hamlet’s lack of awareness to situations is presented through his naivety. Furthermore, both Hamlet and Horatio tend to act alone or with one other when plotting. This shows their similar desire to be independent. For instance, when Hamlet tells Horatio and others to “Never to speak of this that you have seen, / Swear by my sword”(Shakespeare 1.5 174-175), he wants to keep his scheming against Claudius to avenge his father’s death in secret. Though, in this situation by Hamlet working alone, it puts him at a disadvantage since he struggles to commit to his duties. Moving on, Horatio grounds Hamlet from his sanity by being a reliable and loyal friend. The betrayal of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s trust to Hamlet from spying on him and agreeing to send him to his execution exposes the fact that Horatio is the only person Hamlet can rely on. In Act 3 Scene 2, Hamlet says to himself “Give me that man / That is not passion's slave, and / I will wear

Their actions and emotions in comparison show how the two are different from one another, as revealed by Laertes’ compulsiveness. As both characters have similar motives to avenge their fathers deaths, they react differently. Laertes gets to immediate action and does not let anything hold him back, whereas Hamlet remains still in his madness and contemplates his actions. When Laertes rushed back to Denmark after hearing about Polonius’ death, he says to Claudius, “To this point I stand, / That both the worlds, I give to negligence, / Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged / Mostly thoroughly for my father.”(Shakespeare 4.5 151-154) Evidently, Laertes immediately assumes Claudius is to blame for the death of his father and swears that from this moment onwards, he will fight to avenge Polonius. This is a clear contrasting view of how Hamlet is indecisive about what he should do to get his own revenge for his father, as he puts off murdering Claudius for a long time. Though, this suggests that Laertes is more hasty than Hamlet due to his fury. Laertes believes that he must kill whomever killed his father without question. On the contrary, Hamlet takes his time to plan out how he will kill who killed his father. As an example, Hamlet discloses “I’ll have these players / Play something like the murder of my father / Before mine uncle. I’ll