What Is Fortinbras A Foil In Hamlet

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are two characters that serve as foils for Hamlet. They are minor characters to Hamlet’s main, but are important to understanding Hamlet’s character in the play. Laertes and Fortinbras expose Hamlet’s true nature. Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet are all in similar situations. They have all lost their fathers to murder and want some kind of revenge. The two men serve as foils to Hamlet with respect to their motives for revenge, the way they take action, and their behavior while carrying out their plans. Laertes learns of his father’s death and wants to seek vengeance immediately. He shows that his revenge is to prove his love for his family by saying he will “be revenged Most thoroughly for

Hamlet on the other hand acts alone. He has committed himself and no one else to kill Claudius. Laertes allows himself to be manipulated when he confronts Claudius and is angered when asked, “What would you undertake To show yourself in deed your father’s son More than in words?” (Act 4 Scene7, lines 124-126). He is driven to seek revenge on Hamlet and becomes a pawn to Claudius. Fortinbras is manipulated by his uncle when he makes a promise to him in Act 2, scene 2. He “Makes vow before his uncle never more To give th’assy of arms against your Majesty.”, making it impossible to attack Denmark in order to regain his father’s land. Hamlet on the other hand who acts alone is in total control of his situation. He has moments when he acts insane, but he is always aware of what is happening around him, causing him to analyze and over think every little detail of killing his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet realizes the reason he can’t just kill Claudius and get it over with. He wishes that his problem would go away so he doesn’t have to commit murder, but at the same time he understands that he must do what he has