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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2615  Friday, 16 November 2001

[1]     From:   Edmund Taft <taft@Marshall.edu>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 12:39:03 -0500
        Subj:   Laertes

[2]     From:   Sean Lawrence <seanlawrence@writeme.com>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 09:49:33 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

[3]     From:   Susanne Collier <Susanne.collier@csun.edu>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 13:38:39 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

[4]     From:   Steve Roth <steve@steve-roth.com>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 15:27:42 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Edmund Taft <taft@Marshall.edu>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 12:39:03 -0500
Subject:        Laertes

Carol Morley writes,

"I always assumed that Laertes desperately wants to get back to Paris to
resume his time at the Sorbonne (gambling, wenching, boozing and all
other time-honoured student-type activities...). I always inferred a
parallel to Hamlet's intended return to Wittenburg, but does anyone else
have better ideas?"

This may not be a better idea, but it is at least a different one: I
always assumed that the point of Laertes's parting with Ophelia was
ironic. On the one hand, he wants to escape parental control; on the
other hand, he wants to make sure that Ophelia stays under his and his
father's control.

--Ed Taft

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Sean Lawrence <seanlawrence@writeme.com>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 09:49:33 -0800
Subject: 12.2611 Laertes
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

Carol Morley inquires,

>I always assumed that Laertes desperately wants to get back to Paris to
>resume his time at the Sorbonne (gambling, wenching, boozing and all
>other time-honoured student-type activities...). I always inferred a
>parallel to Hamlet's intended return to Wittenburg, but does anyone else
>have better ideas?

Couldn't he just want to get out from under parental control, without
any specific and depraved plans?

Cheers,
Seán.

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Susanne Collier <Susanne.collier@csun.edu>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 13:38:39 -0800
Subject: 12.2611 Laertes
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

As I shared the female version of such studies with Carol Morley ('nuf
said) I think I might  respectfully offer that the contrast between the
reputations of Wittenburg and Paris even in the 16/17 centuries might
have furthered the disparity between Hamlet and Laertes: non-alcoholic
parties being as yet unknown, was there any other game in Wittenburg
other than Lutheran theology?  Paris, had many other games, (hopefully
will have for a long time to come).

Retrospectively theological,
Susanne Collier

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Steve Roth <steve@steve-roth.com>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 15:27:42 -0800
Subject: 12.2611 Laertes
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

Carol Morley:

>I always assumed that Laertes desperately wants to get back to Paris...
>
>...where exactly does it say...

It (Laertes) says, "My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France"

And Polonius says, "H'ath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave/By
laborsome petition, and at last/Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent."

They could be misrepresenting the situation, of course (there's a bit of
that in the play... <g>), but I can't figure out why they would.

Unless your actor friend has some solid, cohesive explanation of why
they'd play a charade with Claudius and/or the other listeners here, I'd
go with Occam's razor....

Steve
http://princehamlet.com

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