The differences between Laertes and Hamlet affect a main theme of the play revenge. Both men have fathers killed, and both are seeking revenge. Hamlet, though he knows who murdered his father, hesitates to take direct action against the villain. In stark contrast is Laertes, who doesn’t know who killed his father but will kill anyone on a whim. Laertes’ rashness throughout provides the play with an unlikely stereotypical hero-- brave, unwavering, ready to kill-- and is rather ironic because Laertes is not the play’s “hero” role. The hero instead is Hamlet, and Hamlet is not a typical hero, in that he shies away from violence, and is portrayed as insane for half of the play (though that is by his own doing). Hamlet is not even able to kill his uncle until Act 5, by which time he can be argued to be mentally and emotionally instable, if not insane. In order to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet must lose himself in insanity; he must become, essentially, an entirely different character.…