Yes, I believe there are subtle overtones of incest
between the pair in Hamlet. Remember, Laertes is a foil for
Hamlet, a more passionate double of the Prince. What one says or does speaks also for
the other. Before he leaves for Paris, Laertes tells his sister, regarding Hamlet's
advances:
Or lose your heart, or your chaste
treasure open
To his unmaster'd
importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear
sister,
And keep you in the rear of your
affection,
Out of the shot and danger of
desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal
enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the
moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious
strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the
spring,
Too oft before their buttons be
disclosed,
And in the morn and liquid dew of
youth
Contagious blastments are most
imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in
fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else
near.
Leartes sees
all young men as out for eros (physical love) because, well, he's a
young man himself. By speaking about Hamlet, he is also speaking for himself. Perhaps
Leartes wants Ophelia to spurn Hamlet's advances while he is gone because Laertes wants
her to himself when he returns--a kind of sexual jealousy. Psychologically, Laertes may
well be harboring an incestuous desire for his sister. By acting like a protective
older brother, Laertes may only be sublimating his real
desire.
Another curious scene is when Leartes jumps into
Ophelia's grave. He shows more anguish over her death than Hamlet. Before leaping in,
he yells:
Hold off the earth
awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine
arms:
Laertes takes
his dead sister in his arms the way a married man would his wife. Hamlet jumps in as
well in order to chastise Laertes' deviant, excessive behavior. Doesn't Hamlet notice
the unnatural relationship here? This is why they duel at the end: Hamlet must rid
Denmark of both incestuous brothers Claudius and Laertes.
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