Laertes Character Analysis

Ophelia’s brother and Polonius’s son. A student at a university in France, Laertes is gallant, worldly, hotheaded, and obsessed with his family’s honor. In hopes of avenging Polonius and Ophelia’s deaths, Laertes conspires with Claudius to murder Hamlet, challenging Hamlet to a duel armed with a poison-tipped sword. He succeeds in stabbing Hamlet with the sword, but their weapons are switched during the fight, and Hamlet fatally stabs Laertes with the poisoned sword as well. As he dies, Laertes is remorseful over the deaths of Hamlet and Gertrude (who unknowingly drank from a cup of poisoned wine, Claudius’s backup plan should the duel fail), and calls out to Hamlet that “the king’s to blame,” implicating Claudius in their murders. Hamlet, realizing the sword is poisoned, stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. Just before Laertes perishes, he cries out that Claudius has gotten the fate he deserves, and that he forgives Hamlet.