Laertes is the son of Polonius as well as brother to Ophelia.
During the course of the play, we find Laertes as a scholar and devoutly loyal to his family.
When Hamlet murders Polonius, Laertes becomes blinded with rage and fury that he wants to murder Hamlet. King Claudius[?] builds on that hatred of Hamlet and encourages Laertes to rid Hamlet once and for all. Hamlet, immensenly sad because he had killed Polonius and agrees to fight a duel with Laertes.
Before the fight, Hamlet apologizes to Laertes. Laertes accepted it, but feels he must still fight for honour. During the fight, Hamlet beats Laertes using Laertes' own poisoned sword. In his last breath, Laertes tells Hamlet that Claudius is the bad guy.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump