Into Dad's Circle of Fear & Flattery, 1.2: (Part 4) Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property). For more notes on the series and an index of previous posts in this series, see the end of this post.
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[Some recent images of Laertes in film since 1990, images clockwise from upper left: Nathaniel Parker (1990),
Liev Schreiber (2000), Edward Bennett (2009), Michael Maloney (1996)]

In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet, the character of Laertes, son of Polonius and brother to Ophelia, illustrates a number of the subtleties of labors of gratitude as described by Lewis Hyde, and also similar labors of regret. These dynamics involve his interactions with Claudius, his father Polonius, Ophelia, and Hamlet. Some of these dynamics are wrapped up in his encounters with a grandstanding and deceptively generous Claudius early and late in the play. Others involve his encounters with his sister Ophelia who is remarkably assertive and resourceful with him before he departs for France, and who, even in her madness, is a font of insight and transformative capacity, which he witnesses but may be slow to appreciate and benefit from (although perhaps it has planted a seed in him). His father tries to give him advice on his departure for France, but Polonius soon reveals himself to be a hypocrite. Finally, some of these dynamics involve his encounters with Hamlet at his sister’s grave in the last act (5.1) and in the final scene (5.2) when Hamlet extends to him certain gifts, which he rejects in favor of his murderous plan, but soon comes to regret.

This week's post will focus especially on Laertes and Claudius in Act 1, scene 2.

We first encounter Laertes in the second scene of Act One, when the king addresses Laertes' request to return to France after coming home for King Hamlet’s funeral and for the wedding of Gertrude and Claudius. I have written before about how the favor shown Laertes by Claudius, granting his request to return to France, contrasts with the disfavor shown to Hamlet, refusing Hamlet’s request to return to Wittenberg.

I have noted in the past (here, here, and here) how in some ways, the granting of Laertes’ request resembles the offer of wish fulfillment extended by King Herod to his step-daughter, Salome (Mk 6:17–29, Mt 14:3–11). Salome had danced pleasingly for Herod, so Herod offers her anything, up to half his kingdom (Mk 6:23), but because the prophet John the Baptist had condemned the incestuous marriage of Herod and Salome’s mother, Salome, prompted by her mother, asks for the head of John the Baptist.

Claudius puts it in these terms, highlighting the debt of gratitude he owes Polonius, a debt so great that he can’t imagine anything Laertes could ask that would not be his offer: 

CLAUDIUS

And now, Laertes, what's the news with you?

You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes?

You cannot speak of reason to the Dane,

And lose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes,

That shall not be my offer, not thy asking?

The head is not more native to the heart,

The hand more instrumental to the mouth,

Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.

What wouldst thou have, Laertes?

This seems a public display meant to impress an audience regarding the gratitude of Claudius to those who serve him faithfully, more than a blank check for Laertes’ wish fulfillment. But still, Laertes is now cast as the recipient of a return gift of gratitude: Polonius’ gifts have been at Claudius’ disposal, so now Claudius returns the favor and extends a gift to Laertes. 

But Laertes has been the recipient of other gifts as well, including the protection of the state by the former king, the deceased King Hamlet, a warrior-king who fought Old Fortinbras, king of Norway, in single combat and prevailed. King Hamlet was in this way a king to be feared.

So having been raised in a culture of feared male authority figures, here’s how Laertes responds to Claudius’ offer:

LAERTES

My dread lord, [i would ask]

Your leave and favour to return to France;

From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,

To show my duty in your coronation,

Yet now, I must confess, that duty done,

My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France

And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.

Laertes calls Claudius his “dread lord.” He fears Claudius, as he probably did the late King Hamlet; this fear will continue to play out in the next scene in an exchanges between Ophelia and her brother and father, both of whom counsel her to fear Hamlet. The opposition between love and fear is an important one in the play, as the player queen claims that the greater one loves, the more one fears the loss of the beloved (3.2). Yet the compulsory church attendance in Shakespeare's England meant that numerous times during each liturgical year, the faithful heard read to them a passage from 1 John 4, claiming that there can be no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear.  

Before Claudius grants Laertes leave to return to France, Claudius, still grateful to his advisor Polonius, recognizes that just as kings rule over their subjects, fathers rule over their children, so he checks to be certain that Laertes has the permission of Polonius. Also, the Hebrew Bible and its Ten Commandments bid the faithful to honor father and mother, in part based on the logic of gifts: We owe our existence in part to our parents, to obeying and honoring them is a labor of gratitude that the Hebrew scriptures recommend. This feels a bit staged ahead of time: Claudius would not do this in public if he didn’t already know the answers to his questions. But here’s how it plays out:

KING CLAUDIUS

Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?

LORD POLONIUS

He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave

By laboursome petition, and at last

Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:

I do beseech you, give him leave to go.

So Laertes has the permission of his father, but this was only “wrung” from him “By laborsome petition.” Laertes either worked on a reluctant father to obtain his permission, or perhaps Polonius claims this in order to appear publicly as if he would miss his son.

Last week we noted how Polonius, after changing his mind about Hamlet, labored to convince Claudius and Gertrude that the cause of Hamlet’s madness must certainly have been love. Here we get a glimpse of how father Polonius may have passed on to his son the gift of a similar stubborn-mindedness and willingness to labor in a cause once his mind is made up. It seems it was easier for Laertes to convince his father, however, than it will be for Polonius to convince Claudius about the cause of Hamlet’s madness.

Polonius finally changed his mind about Hamlet after more evidence of Hamlet's love for his daughter (the text of Hamlet's letters, and Hamlet's visit to Ophelia's room) convinced him to change his mind. We will see eventually in Laertes an initial stubbornness in his attachment to his plan of revenge, but by the end of the play, after Gertrude is poisoned by a cup meant for Hamlet, Laertes, like his father, comes to regret his previous assumptions and has a change of heart and mind.

As we saw three weeks ago in my discussion of "Hansel & Gretel," people sometimes receive gifts, abilities, tendencies or talents from their parents, and they don't always display those capacities until called upon by necessity. But in Laertes' case, his turning against Claudius in the last scene is crucial, and echoes his father's own change of heart and mind regarding Hamlet. But more on that later.

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Continued next week

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NOTE ON THIS SERIES OF POSTS:

Hamlet quotes are taken from the Complete Moby(tm) Shakespeare at mit.edu.

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property).

- The more I examine characters in this way, the more I realize how the major characters in Hamlet are dynamic characters who change, becoming better or worse in one way or another. This approach goes against the grain of a great deal of scholarship that seems to reify (or thing-ify) too many characters (as foil, as Oedipal, as Machiavellian, etc.) and view them as more static, rather than as dynamic, fluid, interacting. For an index of previous posts in this series, see below.

- For Laertes, there are at least two diametrically opposed sets of gift-forces at work: One set involves Claudius & Polonius who pull him in a somewhat selfish direction. Other gift-forces that pull him in another direction come from Ophelia in 1.3, 4.5, and 4.7; and from Hamlet in 5.1 and 5.2.
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This is a continuation of a series of blog posts about labors of gratitude and regret. /
-Three weeks ago, I posted about Lewis Hyde’s idea of “The Labor of Gratitude” and applied these ideas to the tale of “Hansel and Gretel” by the Brothers Grimm. We sometimes respond to life-changing gifts or opportunities by feeling gratitude and laboring to become like the gift or giver, and then passing on a similar gift to others. Some of the potentially life-changing gifts we receive and come to resemble are not entirely good, and are either better rejected, or we may be in need of other gifts that bring the hope of additional transformations.
- I also noted that just as gifts make us feel indebted to another, when we harm someone, we feel regret and a similar debt: We owe it to the harmed person to try to make it right, so we labor with our regret until we have repaired the harm.
- Two weeks ago I examined some of these dynamics for Hamlet. I would add that not only does Hamlet become more like the merciful Providence that he feels has saved him with the help of pirates on his sea voyage, but he also may have become more like Yorick, the court jester or fool who also served as a kind of emotional surrogate father for Hamlet: The prince’s last words to Horatio, “The rest is silence,” could be understood as a musical pun or joke: In musical notation, the rest symbolizes a moment of silence, so Hamlet is using his last breath to tell Horatio a joke, something Yorick would appreciate. 

- Last week, I discussed Polonius, and especially a turning point for him where, having harshly judged Hamlet as a sexual predator, he comes to a moment of regret where he realizes that the prince may actually have had honorable intentions toward his daughter Ophelia, and she may then have been the future Queen of Denmark, but his own meddling to end the relationship may have (in his mind) driven Hamlet mad.

My overall impression of a great deal of criticism on Hamlet is that scholars often view characters too independently of their interactions with others. Hyde's ideas of gift exchange help me make sense of them more via their interactions and interdependencies. 

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Index of other posts in this series:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/09/index-character-arcs-labors-of.html
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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