The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2615  Friday, 16 November 2001

[1]     From:   Edmund Taft <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 12:39:03 -0500
        Subj:   Laertes

[2]     From:   Sean Lawrence <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 09:49:33 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

[3]     From:   Susanne Collier <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 13:38:39 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes

[4]     From:   Steve Roth <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Nov 2001 15:27:42 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2611 Laertes


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Edmund Taft <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
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 <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
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,
Se