Laertes: Not as Bad as Hamlet

Laertes is not a villan. It's simple as that. He fights Hamlet for legitimate reasons, essentially the same exact reasons Hamlet fights Claudius. Laertes has such drive and passion to kill Hamlet because he must avenge his father's (Polonius) death. Hamlet empathizes with both the emotional feelings and the situation Laertes is in. In Act V Scene II, Hamlet expresses how he is "very sorry ... that to Laertes [he] forgot himself. For by the image of [his] cause [he] sees the portraiture of [Laertes’s].” Even Hamlet, the very man whom Laertes wants to kill, understands that Laertes cause is a justified and noble one.

Although Laertes resorts to the use of a poisoned foil tip, he for the most part acts nobly while trying to get revenge upon Hamlet. Laertes goes so far as to give the Prince a duel with odds in Hamlet’s favor. Upon his own death, Laertes states, “I am justly killed with mine own treachery.” Laertes does use treachery and questionable methods to exact his revenge, but doesn’t Hamlet do that as well?

Hamlet kills the innocent Polonius, sends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to their deaths, and interferes with a mourning Laertes as a brother laments the loss of his sister. Hamlet has actions that a just as dubious as Laertes, if not more so. So if you consider Laertes a villain, is Hamlet not also a villain?