Talk:Laertes (Hamlet)

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Untitled[edit]

What do you think laertes charcter is like

Many people remember Laertes as the guy that killed Hamlet, assuming he is the evil guy in the play. This is untrue. The main evil guy is King Claudius. Laertes seems to simply be trying to preserve the honor of his father, his family, and himself. In the end he realizes that the evil one is the King. He and Hamlet forgive each other before Laertes dies, poisoned by his own sword. I think he mainly wants honor, and is a good guy. - DestroyerPC

Laertes is Hamlet's mirror, everything that Hamlet isn't. He is obedient, honorable, and brave, and most importantly, very outgoing. When Hamlet learns that Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet takes his time for revenge, carefully plotting and indecisively refraining from action. On the other hand, when Laertes learns that his father is dead, he wastes no time in running back to Denmark and threatening the King himself, demanding to know what has happened to his father. Laertes is a good man, although a little too brazen at times.

Just found this.[edit]

this is a damn good article! Exactly appropriate to the subject, more or less precisely the right length, well written, just perfect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.139.11.81 (talk) 08:30, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Factual Error[edit]

Laertes does not do this - "but informs him that King Claudius had poisoned the sword Laertes was using." 68.118.52.34 (talk) 06:01, 9 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation[edit]

The IPA in this article suggests that the first syllable of Laertes' name is pronounced like the word lye (or lie); I've always heard it pronounced as "lay", the proper IPA for which would be [eI]. Is it just a variant pronunciation that I'm not familiar with? Masily box (talk) 20:59, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question about the intro[edit]

This sentence is that the end of the opening paragraph of this story: "The Laertes character is thought to be originally from Shakespeare, as there is no equivalent character in any of the known sources for the play." In this context, it makes no sense to me. First, it hints at a controversy that's nowhere addressed in the article, and then it is clumsily written. Are there sources of Hamlet from people other than Shakespeare? If so, explain that. XKL (talk) 18:43, 11 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

      • This confused me too. Aren't all the characters originated by Shakespeare, it being his play? This reads like that is somewhat in dispute. --Stevehim (talk) 23:19, 9 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]
      • Well I think this means that the Laertes character isn't taken from Amleth or Ur-Hamlet, the inspirations for Shakespeare's Hamlet. (I could be wrong.) TheAskabathian (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 20:09, 16 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]