A Comparison of the Revenge of Fortinbras and Hamlet Essay

Fortinbras is a stronger political leader then Hamlet, and his actions to avenge his father’s death show Hamlets cowardly behaviour. Fortinbras is a strong political leader and takes rapid action to seek revenge for his father’s death. Fortinbras is willing to risk not only his life but also the lives of two thousand soldiers to fight for his father’s vengeance. The captain says to Hamlet, “ We go to gain a little patch of ground/That hath in it no profit but the name.” (4.4.18-19). Fortinbras is willing to fight for worthless land if it is in his father’s name. The land may not be worth anything, but to Fortinbras it is worth the battle to honour his father. This proves Fortinbras is a strong political leader because he is showing his

Hamlet vs Fortinbras HAMLET AND FORTINBRAS In Hamlet the character of Fortinbras, a young Norwegian prince, has been used as a foil for the main character Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. Hamlet and Fortinbras have both lost their fathers to untimely deaths. Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, was killed by his uncle Claudius and Fortinbras' father was killed by King Hamlet. Both Hamlet and Fortinbras have vowed to take revenge for the deaths of their fathers.

Fortinbras is a manly warrior and shows the ability to take action. Similarly, Laertes is known for being a good fighter, a man of action, and having the ability to lead. During the play Laertes states, “To cut his throat i’th’ church”(IV.vii. 98). Laertes here says he would go as far as to kill Hamlet in the church, something almost unheard of. This portrays Laertes’ manly characteristics as being a rash and a well known fighter. The young Prince Hamlet, however, denies a chance to take his own revenge, as shown when he

Hamlet (prince of Denmark) can be greatly compared to Laertes (son of a noble), and Fortinbras (prince of Norway) in the play. They all are very similar but yet different at the same time. They all had love and respect for their fathers and felt the need to avenge their deaths, which all were brutally killed. All three believed that the murderers had dishonoured their fathers as well as themselves. They all reacted and took different approaches in attempt to restore honour in their families.

Hamlet has lived through plenty of ups and downs throughout his childhood. He has been lost and confused within himself, but knew he wanted one thing, which was revenge on his fathers killer, Claudius. His passion of hate developed for Claudius as he married Hamlets mother shortly after the king’s death. Hamlet could not decide on the perfect decision for himself, his mother and father as well as the best way to follow through with the best consequence for Claudius that would impress his father. His everyday life, along with his love life, left him with an empty heart, which slowed the process of the revenge down. Hamlet never expected to be captured and kidnapped by pirates, as he was sent overseas as a young man. His inside thoughts were attacking and overwhelming Him, leaving him depressed and anxious. Hamlet’s life has been leading him to negative thoughts that he cannot process or act accordingly to, due to the excessive amount of issues and options involved in his life at a young age, him being overwhelmed lead him to delaying the process of avenging his fathers killer.

In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the character of Fortinbras, has been used as a foil for the main character, Hamlet. Hamlet and Fortinbras have lost their fathers to untimely deaths. Claudius killed Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, and King Hamlet killed Fortinbras' father. Both Hamlet and Fortinbras have vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of their fathers. Since the revenge tactics of Hamlet and Fortinbras are completely different, Hamlet perceives the actions of Fortinbras as better than his own and the actions of Fortinbras, then, encourage Hamlet to act without hesitating.

Throughout Hamlet, not only does the audience gather information about Hamlet’s hamartia through Laertes, they also gather information from the character of Fortinbras and how he acts. The main reason that Fortinbras is such a strong foil for Hamlet’s character is also due to the similarities in both his and Hamlet’s lives. Fortinbras and Hamlet are both princes whose father’s were killed and are now seeking vengeance to achieve justice for their father’s deaths. Due to the deaths of their fathers, they also both now have their uncle’s sitting on the thrones of Denmark and Norway.

Fortinbras is threatening Denmark with vicious attack; the throne is stolen from its rightful owner; incest is being committed on the throne, and Denmark is being viewed as an appallingly weak monarchy. As the disturbance of the Great Chain of Being begins, it only shows signs of getting worse. The fact that Old Hamlet and Claudius are royal opposites does not help anything either. Old Hamlet is known as “a ‘majestical’ king and a great soldier”, and Claudius is known as “a smiling, creeping, serpent” (Wilson 58,44), while Old Hamlet’s “wisdom and human understanding” is contrasted with the depravities of Claudius, “murderer and usurper” (States 94,98). These profound divergences between Old Hamlet and Claudius are certainly dooming for Denmark’s Great Chain as they induce calamity.

Oftentimes, the minor characters in a play can be vital and, among other things, function to further the action of the play or to reveal and illuminate the personalities of other characters. In Hamlet, Fortinbras, the Norwegian Prince, serves as the most important foil of Hamlet and provides us with the actions and emotions in which we can compare to those of Hamlet and better reveal Hamlet’s own character. Because Hamlet and Fortinbras both lost their fathers and have sworn to avenge their deaths, Fortinbras is a perfect parallel of Hamlet. He was also very crucial to the play’s ending and to bring a remedy to the corruption that has plagued Denmark.

Both Hamlet and Fortinbras have tragic flaws, but their flaws are direct opposite of one another. Hamlet suffers from over planning and lacking the ability to take action, but Fortinbras is the kind of man that jumps into things too quickly. For example, Hamlet takes on the responsibility to avenge his father’s death per the request of the ghost of King Hamlet. Each time Hamlet attempts to kill his Uncle Claudius, he finds another excuse to not commit. Hamlet makes his choice to not murder Claudius at the time by stating: “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; / And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven, /and so I am revenged.” (3.3.76–78). In this specific example, Hamlet chooses not to murder Claudius due to the fact that Claudius may have the opportunity to go to Heaven, since Hamlet saw him praying. Later on, Claudius makes the sarcastic comment: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” (3.4.100–01). If Hamlet had just taken initiative instead of trying to play God, the deed would have been done and Claudius would not have went to Heaven, since his prayer was not sincere. On the other hand, Prince Fortinbras tragic flaw is that he takes too much initiative. When Hamlet’s father killed Prince Fortinbras’s father and took their scrappy piece of land, Prince Fortinbras seeks his revenge by putting lives at risk to go and get their land back out of honor. One of Prince Fortinbras’s captains makes the statement: “Truly to speak,

Fortinbras, as Hamlet describes, is able to act without any fear of death “When honor’s at the stake.” (55) Everything that Fortinbras is seems to be the opposite of Hamlet, even though they are both seeking revenge and have lost a father. Thus Fortinbras’s presence reminds Hamlet of his own goals he originally set out for. It was due to Fortinbras and his army of “twenty thousand men” who “Go to their graves like beds” that allowed Hamlet to question his own courage and thus see his flaw. His fear of his own death which was supposedly decided in his fourth soliloquy is now once again troubling his own mind. Should he risk his life and face the unknown afterlife in his quest of vengeance? His intellect portrayed in the fourth soliloquy steered him into the belief that he should choose life over suicide, for fear of the “undiscovered country” (81) in which “no travelers return” (82). Though the image of “twenty thousand men” marching to their deaths and fighting for a piece of land which is not even “tomb enough and continent/To hide the slain” gives reason for Hamlet to doubt his courage as he is afraid of death whereas Fortinbras and his army is not. In Hamlet’s book, this is a suicidal attempt, the act which he decided against in the fourth soliloquy. Hamlet’s intelligence thus portrays his madness as it is not his ability

Hamlet’s motivation throughout the play is to kill Claudius and avenge his father’s death, so every action he makes works to accomplish that goal. On the other hand, Fortinbras’ motivation toward action does not lie exclusively for the sake of revenge. Fortinbras, like Hamlet or any other proud prince, feels a certain obligation to exact revenge on his father’s killer. However, whatever he decides to do it would not entirely be accepted as revenge because King Hamlet is already dead when the play starts. Although it is unclear if Fortinbras desires to kill Hamlet in the name of his father, killing Hamlet would not be the same as killing his father, the true murderer. Rather than act as if responding to a vendetta, Fortinbras is motivated to restore honor to his father by reclaiming the parcel land in Norway that is seized after King Hamlet kills King Fortinbras.

His uncle, Claudius, has killed his father, taken the throne, and married his mother.  This leaves Hamlet feeling like his world has been crushed.  By killing Claudius, Hamlet would not only avenge his father's death, but also dethrone a murderer and restore some order to his world.  This sets Hamlet apart from Fortinbras and Laertes because Hamlet acts out of desperation while pride motivates Fortinbras and love makes Laertes act.

Young Fortinbras was deeply enraged by the death of his father, and he wanted revenge against Denmark because of this occurrence. Fortinbras wanted to, by force, regain the lands that had been lost by his father to Denmark. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius sends messengers to talk to Fortinbras' uncle, the new King of Norway. He forbid Fortinbras to attack Denmark, and instead convinced him to attack the Poles to vent his anger. "…His nephew's levies, which to him appear'd to be a preparation 'gainst the Polack; But better look'd into, he truly found it was against your highness…On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys, receives rebuke from Norway, and, in fine, makes vow before his uncle never more to give the assay of arms against your majesty."

The other member of the family that we see in play, Gertrude, does not have a good case either, she is so unconcerned with her husband's murder and knowingfully marries his murderer that we can infer that she collaborated with Claudius and was committing adultery before then. Gertrude’s actions are almost as grotesque as Claudius’ and such a backstabbing person should never be given the power to rule over a kingdom where hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. The family of Hamlet is so hellbent on revenge, greed and power instead of the people of the kingdom and is why I believe they are so unfit for rule. I believe that the lands of Denmark are in much better hands under the rule of Fortinbras, based off of his desire to lead, ability to act and honor. His character is the foil to Hamlet and he shows that he is a better candidate to lead the kingdom most notably when we see how Hamlet and Fortinbras reacted to their fathers’ deaths. Hamlet acts like a mad man when his father is dead due to his constant planning for revenge but without action. On the other hand, Fortinbras turns his anger from his father’s death into motivation to become the King of Denmark, he is also described to be a man of action and he displays calmness, virtuousness and honor which