Fortinbras: The Prince Who Actually Acts
First appears: Act 4, Scene 4
Fortinbras exists in the play almost entirely as a contrast to Hamlet. He is a prince who has also lost a father. He has also suffered political humiliation: his father lost Danish territory to Hamlet's father in single combat, and he wants it back. Claudius sends envoys to Fortinbras's uncle, the King of Norway, who rebukes him and redirects the army toward Poland instead. His response is to raise an army and march.
He appears physically only twice: briefly in Act 4, Scene 4, passing through Denmark with his troops, and again in Act 5, Scene 2 to claim the throne. He says almost nothing, but his presence is felt throughout the play because Hamlet keeps thinking about him. The 'How all occasions do inform against me' speech in Act 4 is prompted directly by seeing Fortinbras's army march toward certain death for a worthless patch of ground, and Hamlet reads it as a rebuke.
He inherits everything at the end: the throne, the kingdom, the future. He is neither morally superior to Hamlet nor wiser. He is simply able to act.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Let four captains bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; for he was likely, had he been put on, to have proved most royally.”
Fortinbras — Act 5, Scene 2
Themes
Other Characters in Hamlet
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