Laertes

Family: Danish court · Role: courtier's son · First appears: Hamlet · Act I, Scene II

Laertes, a courtier’s son of the Danish court, is granted permission by Claudius to return to France in Act I. Before departing, he urges his sister Ophelia to write to him and acknowledges Polonius as his father; then he leaves, saying, “My necessaries are embark’d. Farewell.”

In Act IV, a rebellion calls for Laertes to be king, but he is instead told that Polonius is dead. He vows revenge, declaring, “only I’ll be reveng’d Most throughly for my father,” and joins Claudius in a plot against Hamlet. Laertes agrees to poison his sword so that even a slight wound may prove fatal.

In Act V, Laertes grapples with Hamlet at Ophelia’s grave before facing him in the rigged fencing match. Their poisoned weapons wound them both; as he lies dying, Laertes exchanges forgiveness with Hamlet, reveals Claudius’s treachery, and says, “The King, the King’s to blame.”