Write short notes on Foils in Hamlet
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Foils in Hamlet
A foil is a character who sets off another person by being a contrast to that person.
For a character to be a foil to Hamlet, he or she must have things in common with him in order for any differences to become more obvious.
Thus the audience would note how Hamlet shows particular aspects of his own character and personality by behaving differently from others in a similar situation. For example, Ophelia's apparently genuine madness is a foil for Hamlet's supposedly feigned 'antic disposition'.
There are two characters in the play who are obvious foils for Hamlet. They have a number of things in common with Hamlet, but they respond to their circumstances in markedly different ways. They are Laertes and Fortinbras.
All three are young men associated with royal courts of Scandinavia and all three lose their fathers in violent and inter-related ways.
Three Young Men
Fortinbras is a royal prince of Norway, whose father was killed over a land dispute, many years before, by Old Hamlet. Like Young Hamlet, he did not attain his country's throne on the death of his father but, again as with Young Hamlet, it is his uncle who has become king. He is a soldier prince, with little real power, since his uncle controls him and his country. However, he intends to lead his men into battle, one way or another.
Laertes is not a prince, but he is the son of the most highly-regarded royal counsellor at the Danish court, and his sister is the lady expected ~ by the queen at least ~ to become the bride of Prince Hamlet, heir to the throne. His father is killed during the action of the play. The killer is Young Hamlet. However, the killing is unintentional. Hamlet's reflex action on hearing a hidden voice in his mother's room, while in a highly emotional mood, results in him killing Polonius almost accidentally. Without his important father, Laertes may lose his status and his place at court. He prefers to spend his time in France, rather than at court.
Hamlet is a royal prince of the Danish court. His father was killed ~ murdered ~ only a matter of weeks before the action of the play begins. The killer is Old Hamlet's own brother, Claudius. It is Hamlet's uncle ~ this same Claudius ~ who has been elected king. Hamlet is said to be a soldier, but he has no real power and does not wish to be involved in battles. He is a scholar, and would prefer to spend his time in Wittenberg, rather than at court, but may not go because the king wishes it that way.
All three young men intend to avenge their fathers' deaths.
Fortinbras and Revenge
The audience is likely to gather that Young Fortinbras was just a child when his father died, but that he now intends to gain back the land then lost to Denmark. He prepares for invasion, without his king uncle's knowledge, but his plan is thwarted, when Danish emissaries inform the old man.
Desirous of land and battle, he instead agrees to fight a meaningless battle with Poland. Certainly the invasion plan must have been many years in the making, but it was not well thought out and Fortinbras seems to have been willing to accept the alternative. He shows no animosity towards Young Hamlet.
Laertes and Revenge
Laertes' response to his father's death is to return immediately to Denmark, ready to kill Claudius, whom he assumes to be the killer. His grief exhibits itself as anger and hatred for all to see ~ indeed, he arrives at Elsinore at the head of a riotous mob. To be about to kill Claudius, without even checking if he were the culprit, indicates a complete lack of thought or planning. He has not checked the details of the death or whether he has his facts right. His father is dead and he wants revenge. It is as simple as that and requires no time for thought or consideration.
When he discovers that it is Hamlet, rather than Claudius, who is the killer, he wants to know, immediately, why he was not punished fully. He then shows great pleasure in the fact that he, himself, will be able to deal Hamlet a fatal blow in a fencing match. There is no soul-searching, no worrying about an afterlife and no concerns about conscience. It is a simple matter. His father has been killed by Hamlet, so Hamlet must die at his hands.
How is Laertes a foil to Hamlet?
Compared to Hamlet, Laertes is faced with similar issues ~ but reacts very differently.
Hamlet and Revenge
Hamlet's father has only recently died when the play begins so Hamlet is experiencing tremendous grief.
On top of that, his mother, rather than supporting her distraught son, and grieving as might be expected of a widow, has re-married in unnatural haste. Her new husband is someone Hamlet cares little for. He also happens to be his father's brother, so in his eyes, the marriage is incestuous.