William Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, has well stood the test of time as the play is, to this day, still relevant in our modern world. Perhaps it is because of the erratic twists and turns of the plot, or maybe it is because we can all see at least a little bit of ourselves in the dynamic, imperfect characters. More interestingly, the characters themselves seem to have quite a lot in common, to a certain degree. Hamlet has many puzzles, parallels, and paradoxes by which audience can reasonably infer that Shakespeare did not support the idea of revenge (Boyce 136). The tragedy genre is synonymous with death and despair. The avenging sons are all victims of adversity and act on it diversely (Bloom 57). Laertes and Fortinbras are foils to Hamlet as they have similar backgrounds and situations yet respond in different ways to emphasize the main character’s qualities.
For one to compare characters in literature, it is imperative that they know what the term foil means. The Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature defines foil as, “A character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show advantage to some aspect of the second character” (Kuiper 423). In other words, for a character to be a foil of another, they must have many things in common so that the differences are rather
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He’s depressed, betrayed, and angry due to the misfortune of his father and mother’s unrightful remarriage.
“The grief he experiences reveals that he possesses a deep admiration and love for his father, feelings which prevent him from moving on...Hamlet’s father is his sole motivation in seeking revenge … he is not embarking on this mission for personal gain. Although Hamlet decides to seek vengeance against Claudius, he is not always certain his pursuit is morally correct. Hamlet often questions himself and his actions throughout the play in order to make sure that his motives are morally justified”( Vasquez