lanselos_du_lac

Laertes lets himself hear the sincere regret in Lancelot's voice, and tries to imagine his own father speaking so--tries to imagine him apologizing for any wrong he'd done, saying that Laertes is not to blame, promising that he would never harm him. It's impossible to do. He knows in his heart that Polonius has never believed that he has wronged his son, and that if Laertes tried to explain what a ruin Polonius had made of him, Polonius would counter and dissemble until Laertes thought himself in the wrong for being hurt.

Polonius has been a father to Laertes all his life, and Lancelot was new-made a father upon arriving here--and yet, if what Lancelot says is true, he has done better with his few short weeks than Polonius has done with thirty years.

"When I first came here," Laertes says, a little softer now, "I also hurt him. I told him that his affair with Claudius could not be lasting, because princes owe their destinies to their country and not to their loves. He was such a glad thing, when I met him, and my first act here was to dim the joyous light of him. I was a fool, then. I thought I understand all the world's cruel ways, and thought to snatch a sweet thing from his lips because I could not imagine sweetness without poison at its heart. I know better now. And so do you."