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Laertes' and Hamlet's immediate reactions when they learn of their father's unnatural deaths are widely different. When Laertes learns that his father is gone, he is outraged and "o'er bears [Claudius's] officers. The rabble call him lord... / They cry 'Choose we! Laertes shall be king!' " (4. 5. 105, 109). Laertes takes action immediately by bursting into the castle, and demanding "O thou vile king, / give me my father!" (4. 5. 119 - 20). Laertes' anger overrules his rational thought, and he acts with emotions alone, whereas Hamlet promises to act, but delivers only angry, grief-stricken soliloquies on how horrible it is that he does not act upon his feelings.
Hamlet is amazed at his own inaction, that he, "the son of a dear father murdered, / Prompted to [his] revenge by heaven and hell, / Must like a whore unpack [his] heart with words / And fall a-cursing" (2. 2. 584 - 587). He berates himself for this ostensible dodging of responsibility, saying, "Am I a coward? / Who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across? / Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? / Tweaks my by the nose? ... Who does me this?" (2. 2. 571 - 574, 575). Hamlet's inability to gain revenge astounds him, and unlike Laertes, he seems to do nothing about his delay. Laertes is consumed by his anger and acts accordingly, but Hamlet takes his grief to heart and plots how he will eventually avenge his father's murder.
When Laertes learns that Hamlet has killed his father, he immediately goes along with the king's plan to kill Hamlet. Laertes agrees to "be ruled" by the King so that Hamlet "shall not choose but fall; / And for his death no wind if blame shall breathe, / But even his mother shall... call it accident" (4. 7. 69, 65 - 68). Laertes has lost all form of conscience because of his anger towards Hamlet, he even wants "to cut [Hamlet's] throat i' the church" which is a grave offense that would surely send Laertes to Hell (4. 7. 127). Hamlet, on the other hand, spends much of his time plotting how he will gain his revenge. He has "heard / That guilty creatures sitting at a play...
have proclaimed their malefactions... / Before mine uncle, I'll observe his looks... If 'a do blench, / I know my course" (2. 2. 589 - 90, 593, 597. 598 - 9). Hamlet chooses to show the King a play, very like that of Claudius' own murderous deed, in order to cause a reaction. When "the King rises" unexpectedly, Hamlet gains some evidence of the King's guilt, beyond the word of a ghost. Laertes and Hamlet each set out to avenge the deaths of their fathers, but they end up committing far worse crimes than those crimes that they were punishing. When Laertes and Claudius invite Hamlet to a duel, they intend "To cut his throat i' the church... [and] Requite him for [Laertes'] father" (4. 7. 127, 140).
Because the King is afraid that Hamlet might "by chance escape [Laertes'] venom stuck", he decides to prepare "A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping... / Our purpose may hold there" (4. 7. 162, 161, 163). Laertes' pursuit of Hamlet occupies all of his attention, and he does not consider any of the problems that could arise from this plan. He is unaware of the possibility that Gertrude would drink from the chalice intended for Hamlet, or that Hamlet would cut him with the poisoned rapier. Laertes' grief and anger causes Hamlet, Gertrude, and Laertes to die, while Hamlet's grief causes the death of Ophelia, Polonius, and Claudius. When Hamlet is cursing his mother, she calls out "What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, ho!" (3. 4. 22 - 3). Polonius, hiding behind a curtain, is alarmed and calls out as well. Hamlet, horrified that "a rat" has been spying, thrusts his rapier through the curtain and into Polonius (3. 4. 25). When Ophelia hears of her father's death, it drives her to insanity, and she falls "in the weeping brook.
Her clothes spread wide... she chanted snatches of old lauds, / As one incapable of her own distress... / Till her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pulled the poor wretch... / To muddy death" (4. 7. 176, 178 - 9, 182 - 3, 184). The last death attributed to Hamlet is Claudius's. Hamlet's original goal was to kill Claudius and get revenge for King Hamlet's murder, and Hamlet succeeds when he makes Claudius drink the poison that was intended for Hamlet. Laertes and Hamlet both succeeded in killing their fathers' murderers, but the price was the death of Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude, and Laertes himself. Although Hamlet and Laertes are responsible for their actions in dealing with their grief, Claudius is the ultimate cause of the death throughout the castle.
Because Claudius killed Hamlet's father, he is responsible for all of Hamlet's actions that are brought on by grief or a need for revenge. When Hamlet kills Polonius, it is because Claudius sent Polonius to spy on Gertrude and Hamlet. This in turn triggers Laertes' grief, and all of Laertes' actions after that that are connected to the death of his father. All of the deaths in Hamlet can be accredited to Claudius.
When Claudius kills King Hamlet, young Hamlet is grief-stricken. Hamlet kills Polonius in a fit of rage, causing Ophelia to go mad and eventually kill herself, and Laertes to become enraged. Laertes then kills Hamlet and inadvertently kills Gertrude and himself. Hamlet is horrified at the deaths surrounding him and kills Claudius. All of these deaths stemmed from Hamlet's original grief that Claudius had murdered King Hamlet.
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Research essay sample on Grief For A Fathers Death Hamlets Vs Laertes
