Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 1
Federico La Sala recently reminded me that the name Laertes in Hamlet comes from Homer's Odyssey. [1] I am grateful to him for pointing me in this direction.
Allusions for Shakespeare are usually not all-encompassing, and don’t align on every point, but seem chosen for what limited light they shed. I usually focus on biblical allusions, but here’s a detour (some possible Odyssey allusions or influences):
1. DEFENDER OF WOMEN AND PRINCES:
ODYSSEY: Laertes defends Penelope, wife of his son Odysseus (gone 20 years), from suitors who believe he is dead.
HAMLET: Laertes defends his sister from a possible affair with Prince Hamlet, and defends the prince, in case Hamlet must marry to secure a foreign alliance (1.3).
2. WEAVING AND SEWING AS FEMININE DISGUISE:
ODYSSEY: To delay 108 suitors, Penelope says she is weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, but she undoes her work and begins anew each day, drawing out her labor and excuse for resisting suitors, buying time.
HAMLET: Ophelia is sewing when Hamlet comes to her room and acts mad (2.1). Perhaps Ophelia allows her father to use her as bait (3.1), and allows “mad” Hamlet to speak disrespectfully to her (3.1, 3.2), to buy time.
3. TALK OF ASSASSINATING AN HEIR
ODYSSEY: Penelope’s suitors consider assassinating Telemachus, son and heir of Odysseus.
HAMLET: Claudius and Laertes conspire to assassinate Hamlet (4.7), heir of Denmark.
4. BEGGARY AS MASCULINE DISGUISE:
ODYSSEY: when Odysseus returns, he pretends to be a beggar at first, both to his father Laertes, and to his wife, Penelope, before revealing himself.
HAMLET: The prince pretends to be mad, a disguise. More than any other character in the play, is described as, or describes himself as, poor or begging.
When he returns from his sea voyage, he describes himself in a letter to Claudius as being poor for lack of clothing:
“I am set naked on your kingdom” (4.7).
Hamlet does not reveal his identity to the gravedigger who speaks of the prince being mad and gone for England, where people are as mad as he (5.1).
At Ophelia’s grave (5.1), Hamlet reveals/unmasks himself with words that associate him with the throne of Denmark:
“This is I, Hamlet the Dane!”
He also unmasks his love:
“I lov'd Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
Could not (with all their quantity of love)
Make up my sum.”
He later apologizes to Laertes for his madness (5.2).
In these ways, Hamlet sheds his disguises of madness and beggary as did Odysseus.
5. OPPOSING A COMMON ENEMY:
ODYSSEY: After Odysseus returns, the families of the suitors that Odysseus killed want revenge. Together, Odysseus and his father Laertes fight their shared enemies.
HAMLET: After Hamlet returns from his sea-voyage, and after Laertes has poisoned him, Laertes feels guilty and reveals that the king is to blame (5.2), switching sides to join Hamlet in opposing Claudius, now their shared enemy.
I will not go so far as to commit an “intentional fallacy” and claim that Shakespeare intended all these parallels, but the allusion of the name “Laertes” certainly seems to have been an inspired choice for its possibilities. [2]
~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/federico-la-sala-10214b162_shakespeare-corpomistico-re-activity-6960571872715399168-nIER?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web
[2] Shakespeare may not have intended all of these parallels, but he may have been drawn to the possibilities, and they may have unconsciously shaped some of his imaginative choices.
I once asked author Jon Hassler a question about his book, Staggerford. In that book, there is a grandmother figure who shoots a young man who is the main character. I asked Hassler if he was a fan of Flannery O’Connor and her story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” His answer was an enthusiastic yes. I asked him if he realized that his novel, Staggerford, contained a gender reversal of key characters: In O’Connor’s story, a young man (“The Misfit”) shoots a grandmother. Hassler said he didn’t realize that, but that it was an interesting observation, and maybe there was an unconscious influence.
So without resorting to the intentional fallacy and claiming Shakespeare intended all the parallels listed, it’s still possible to say it seems to have been an inspired choice for Laertes’ name, and for the way the other details of sewing and disguise line up.
The line from the D.H. Lawrence poem reads, “Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me” (“Song of a Man Who Has Come Through” (Kalliope: Unrhyming Poems 1917-28). We can’t speak of Shakespeare’s intentions lest we offend some critics, but perhaps the wind that blew through Shakespeare had greater intentions than he realized?
IMAGES, clockwise from upper left:
Upper Left: Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570), “Odysseus and Penelope,” c. 1563. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francesco_Primaticcio_002.jpg
Upper Right: "Head of Odysseus from a sculptural group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. Marble, Greek, probably 1st century AD. From the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga.... Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Sperlonga.... from the Iliade exhibition at the Colosseum, September 2006–February 2007." Photo 2006 by Jastrow, public domain, via Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Head_Odysseus_MAR_Sperlonga.jpg
Lower Right: John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), “Penelope and the Suitors,” Aberdeen Art Gallery. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnWilliamWaterhouse-PenelopeandtheSuitors(1912).jpg
Lower Left: William Gorman Wills (1828-1891), “Ophelia and Laertes (or Ophelia here is Rosemary)," c.1880. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Gorman_Wills-Ophelia_and_Laertes.jpg
FOR MORE READING:
Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages (Oxford, 2017)
by Tanya Pollard
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/greek-tragic-women-on-shakespearean-stages-9780198793113?cc=us&lang=en&
Shakespeare and Classical Tragedy: The Influence of Seneca,
by Robert Miola https://global.oup.com/academic/product/shakespeare-and-classical-tragedy-9780198112648?cc=us&lang=en&
How the Classics Made Shakespeare
By Jonathan Bate
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691161600/how-the-classics-made-shakespeare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
INDEX: Holding up The Odyssey as mirror in Hamlet
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-holding-up-odyssey-as-mirror-in.html
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YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried
IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider FOLLOWING.
To find the FOLLOW button, go to the home page: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/
see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
From there you can click FOLLOW and see options.
ODYSSEY: Laertes defends Penelope, wife of his son Odysseus (gone 20 years), from suitors who believe he is dead.
HAMLET: Laertes defends his sister from a possible affair with Prince Hamlet, and defends the prince, in case Hamlet must marry to secure a foreign alliance (1.3).
ODYSSEY: To delay 108 suitors, Penelope says she is weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, but she undoes her work and begins anew each day, drawing out her labor and excuse for resisting suitors, buying time.
HAMLET: Ophelia is sewing when Hamlet comes to her room and acts mad (2.1). Perhaps Ophelia allows her father to use her as bait (3.1), and allows “mad” Hamlet to speak disrespectfully to her (3.1, 3.2), to buy time.
3. TALK OF ASSASSINATING AN HEIR
ODYSSEY: Penelope’s suitors consider assassinating Telemachus, son and heir of Odysseus.
HAMLET: Claudius and Laertes conspire to assassinate Hamlet (4.7), heir of Denmark.
ODYSSEY: when Odysseus returns, he pretends to be a beggar at first, both to his father Laertes, and to his wife, Penelope, before revealing himself.
HAMLET: The prince pretends to be mad, a disguise. More than any other character in the play, is described as, or describes himself as, poor or begging.
When he returns from his sea voyage, he describes himself in a letter to Claudius as being poor for lack of clothing:
“I am set naked on your kingdom” (4.7).
Hamlet does not reveal his identity to the gravedigger who speaks of the prince being mad and gone for England, where people are as mad as he (5.1).
At Ophelia’s grave (5.1), Hamlet reveals/unmasks himself with words that associate him with the throne of Denmark:
“This is I, Hamlet the Dane!”
He also unmasks his love:
“I lov'd Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
Could not (with all their quantity of love)
Make up my sum.”
He later apologizes to Laertes for his madness (5.2).
In these ways, Hamlet sheds his disguises of madness and beggary as did Odysseus.
5. OPPOSING A COMMON ENEMY:
ODYSSEY: After Odysseus returns, the families of the suitors that Odysseus killed want revenge. Together, Odysseus and his father Laertes fight their shared enemies.
HAMLET: After Hamlet returns from his sea-voyage, and after Laertes has poisoned him, Laertes feels guilty and reveals that the king is to blame (5.2), switching sides to join Hamlet in opposing Claudius, now their shared enemy.
I will not go so far as to commit an “intentional fallacy” and claim that Shakespeare intended all these parallels, but the allusion of the name “Laertes” certainly seems to have been an inspired choice for its possibilities. [2]
~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/federico-la-sala-10214b162_shakespeare-corpomistico-re-activity-6960571872715399168-nIER?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web
[2] Shakespeare may not have intended all of these parallels, but he may have been drawn to the possibilities, and they may have unconsciously shaped some of his imaginative choices.
I once asked author Jon Hassler a question about his book, Staggerford. In that book, there is a grandmother figure who shoots a young man who is the main character. I asked Hassler if he was a fan of Flannery O’Connor and her story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” His answer was an enthusiastic yes. I asked him if he realized that his novel, Staggerford, contained a gender reversal of key characters: In O’Connor’s story, a young man (“The Misfit”) shoots a grandmother. Hassler said he didn’t realize that, but that it was an interesting observation, and maybe there was an unconscious influence.
So without resorting to the intentional fallacy and claiming Shakespeare intended all the parallels listed, it’s still possible to say it seems to have been an inspired choice for Laertes’ name, and for the way the other details of sewing and disguise line up.
The line from the D.H. Lawrence poem reads, “Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me” (“Song of a Man Who Has Come Through” (Kalliope: Unrhyming Poems 1917-28). We can’t speak of Shakespeare’s intentions lest we offend some critics, but perhaps the wind that blew through Shakespeare had greater intentions than he realized?
IMAGES, clockwise from upper left:
Upper Left: Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570), “Odysseus and Penelope,” c. 1563. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francesco_Primaticcio_002.jpg
Upper Right: "Head of Odysseus from a sculptural group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. Marble, Greek, probably 1st century AD. From the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga.... Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Sperlonga.... from the Iliade exhibition at the Colosseum, September 2006–February 2007." Photo 2006 by Jastrow, public domain, via Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Head_Odysseus_MAR_Sperlonga.jpg
Lower Right: John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), “Penelope and the Suitors,” Aberdeen Art Gallery. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnWilliamWaterhouse-PenelopeandtheSuitors(1912).jpg
Lower Left: William Gorman Wills (1828-1891), “Ophelia and Laertes (or Ophelia here is Rosemary)," c.1880. Public domain, via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Gorman_Wills-Ophelia_and_Laertes.jpg
FOR MORE READING:
Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages (Oxford, 2017)
by Tanya Pollard
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/greek-tragic-women-on-shakespearean-stages-9780198793113?cc=us&lang=en&
Shakespeare and Classical Tragedy: The Influence of Seneca,
by Robert Miola https://global.oup.com/academic/product/shakespeare-and-classical-tragedy-9780198112648?cc=us&lang=en&
How the Classics Made Shakespeare
By Jonathan Bate
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691161600/how-the-classics-made-shakespeare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
INDEX: Holding up The Odyssey as mirror in Hamlet
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/08/index-holding-up-odyssey-as-mirror-in.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried
IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider FOLLOWING.
To find the FOLLOW button, go to the home page: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/
see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
From there you can click FOLLOW and see options.
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