This is Act V, scene i, and it is the first scene in which
Hamlet re-appears after he is sent by Claudius to England. He listens to the scene in
hiding to begin with, but finally jumps out to challenge Laertes' love for Opheila. It
is important to note that Hamlet had no idea, before this moment, that Ophelia was
dead.
He, at first, seems to make fun of Laertes' show of
grief:
What
is he whose griefBears such an emphasis, whose phrase of
sorrowConjures the wand'ring stars and makes them
standLike wonder-wounded
hearers?
But, when Laertes
obviously attacks him (Hamlet says: "take thy fingers from my throat" and "Hold off thy
hand."), his tone darkens and he stands his ground:
readability="11">
I will fight with him upon this
theme
Until my eyelids no longer
wag.
...I lov'd Ophelia. Forty thousand
brothers
Could not with all their quantities of
love
Make up my
sum.
And then Hamlet
challenges Laertes to prove that his love is more than Hamlet's. It's almost like two
kids on the playground proving that one is braver or stronger or smarter than the
other. Hamlet lists off challenges to Laertes, claiming that he will also do them all
and more:
readability="12">
Woo't weep, woo't fight, woo't fast, woo't tear
thyself,
Woo't drink up eisel, eat a
crocodile?
I'll do
it.
And finally, Hamlet
displays his ignorance of the cause of Laertes' anger towards him. He seems to have
forgotten that he killed Laertes' father, and that the death of that same father might
have had something to do with Ophelia's death as well. He asks
Laertes:
What
is the reason that you use me thus?I lov'd you
ever.
His final line of the
scene seems to foreshadow the final scene of the play, but it is a very curious line, a
little hard to decipher. Hamlet says:
readability="8">
...But it is no
matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he
may,
The cat will mew and the dog will have his
day.
So, in sum, it seems
that Hamlet's attitude towards Laertes is at first, one of challenging Laertes' right to
love Ophelia "most," but then it becomes one of questioning, as he, un-remembering of
Polonius' death, asks Laertes why he seems to have something against him, since they
were always friends before. Later, of course, Hamlet and Laertes do, in their final
moments, reconcile and regain their lost friendship.
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