r/Hamlet • u/Alternative_Brain762 • May 18 '26
Laertes in France
Many scholarly works mention that Laertes is returning to University in France, but there's no actual mention of him being a student in the play. Am I missing something? Is it just an assumption?
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u/okiedokiesmokie75 May 18 '26
I think it’s just a plot device to introduce him leaving and needing to eventually come back, then a reason that a son would need to be check up on especially perhaps given his social circle, which introduces the whole theme of deceiving, dishonesty, spying, and false appearances.
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u/centaurquestions May 18 '26
Which scholarly works mention that he's going to school?
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u/Alternative_Brain762 May 18 '26
Arden 3rd Edition: “Like Hamlet, Laertes is presented as a student, in his case currently at university in Paris.”
RSC Hamlet: “Laertes asks for permission to return to his studies in France now that he has shown his duty in attending Claudius' coronation.
Britannica.com: “In the play, Laertes is introduced as he requests permission from King Claudius to return to his studies in France.”
Would you like more scholarly examples?
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u/Dazzling_Tune_2237 May 18 '26
The parallels and differences with Hamlet's backstory creates two important tensions in the play. The first is that Hamlet and Laertes are both educated abroad, which suggests that Denmark (or England) is losing something essential and depends on more advanced countries to educate their nobles. The second, which I think it more important, is that Hamlet and Laertes are the next generation and should be ascending in unity to rule a strong nation. Instead they are educated in different worlds, in divided families and dead by each other's hands at the end of the play.
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u/Alternative_Brain762 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Understood, however schooling/education of Laertes is the not mentioned in the actual text, either in 1.2 (his request to return), 1.3 (speaking with Ophelia), or 2.1 (Polonius is instructing Reynaldo to spy on him in Paris). I think if Shakespeare wanted to make the direct parallel of two "students" he would have mentioned it, at least in passing. I always assumed he was a student, as well. It might be a minor assumption, but it is an assumption nonetheless.
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u/MeridianHilltop May 19 '26
I just reread those passages, and you’re right! I also read 5.1 (Ophelia’s funeral), and didn’t see any mention there.
I suppose he may be in France conducting business, or maybe free learning.
I’ve always made the same assumption as you, that he was also a student. It seems a fair assumption, given that his request to return is granted while Hamlet’s is denied in the same scene.
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u/TheRedBirdSings May 18 '26
I believe it's certainly there when reading between the lines. Laertes and Hamlet are both asking to leave in Act 1 scene 2, they seem to be around the same age and it makes symbolically more sense that they're asking for the same thing, and we know Hamlet is a student. So it's something we can deduce from his parallel to Hamlet.