as well observed his father's advice to be concerned with appearances since "the apparel oft proclaims the man."As unconcerned for the order of society as he is for his own salvation, he would rather "dare damnation" than leave his father's honor and his own besmirched. Though the sight of his sister's madness brings him to a moment of true grief, he is still primarily enraged by his father's "obscure funeral - / No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones, / No noble rite nor formal ostentation." To vindicate his honor, Laertes stoops to a most dishonorable practice.Laertes is so concerned about his formal and outward "terms of honor" that he cannot permit his natural feelings to rule his will. In this concern for outward honor he further dishonors himself by the false statement that he will act honorably with Hamlet. Saying that "I do receive your offered love like love, / And will not wrong it," he goes and chooses the lethally sharp and poisoned weapon. Had Laertes acted upon the honorable promptings of his conscience, he would have avoided his own death and, by allying himself with Hamlet, would have won the gratitude of the future King. Laertes' false sense of honor and pride override his better instincts to the fatal harm of both. Recognizing his dishonor too late and admitting that he is "justly killed with mine own treachery," Laertes finally rises to the true honor of admitting his fault to Hamlet, informing him of Claudius' designs, and then, in a tragically belated reconciliation withHamlet, offering him an exchange of forgiveness. But if his rise to true honor finally redeems him in our eyes, his false honor has destroyed his life.HamletHamlet dares us, along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to "pluck out the heart of my mystery." This mystery marks the essence of Hamlet's character as, in spite of our popular psychologies, it ultimately does for all human personalities. Granting this, we can attempt to chart its origi...
