Intro Paragraph for Laertes Essay

An actor must take responsibility for what each audience member hears through the language, conveying the story and characters of a playwright; specifically, an actor may further enable the audience to distinguish certain objectives and thoughts by emphasizing the playwright’s diction. Unlike most writers, William Shakespeare thoroughly dictates the illustrious language of his tragedies and comedies by implementing specific sounds, tones, and accents in order to reveal a character’s strategy. However, Shakespeare also manifests a character’s identity to help the audience realize, judge, or accept a certain conflict in the story. Furthermore, although each of his tragedies analyzes a different emotional topic of moral conviction, Shakespeare generally implements a similar set of characters in order to easily distinguish the exact plight at the core of a scene. Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark provides a potent example. Specifically, like Hamlet whose father has recently died, Laertes finds himself distraught over the eventual death of his father, Polonius, questioning the power of the government in a chaotic Denmark. However, clouded by King Claudius’ offer of revenge, Laertes is forced to struggle with an inner conflict that has the capability to inflict irreparable damage. Similar to The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s Tybalt, Laertes finds himself preemptively misjudged as the anti-hero because of his reserved intelligence and strikingly hot-temper. Consequently, Shakespeare depicts Laertes’ personality by juxtaposing harshly plosive articulation with eloquently calming phrases, furthering the audience’s perception of Laertes’ conflict. By submitting to Claudius’ demands, Laertes reveals his doubtful confidence in avenging his family because he struggles to find his true purpose. Therefore, Shakespeare manipulates the audience’s perception of heroism by exploiting Laertes’ actions as impetuous, when in fact Laertes struggles to accept murder as an appropriate response because of his shared grief with Hamlet over the loss of each of their fathers, as well as his expectations for a glorified, successful, and hopeful Denmark.