Difference Between Fortinbras And Hamlet

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

In this speech, it is clear that Fortinbras is more driven in his purpose and has the 'wheels in motion.' In one of Hamlet's soliloquy's he says,

1. In scene four, Hamlet has arrived at the dock where he will be shipped away to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. While waiting to board the ship they overhear young Fortinbras asking for a right of passage from the King of Denmark, so he can go to Poland, where the Norwegians and the Poles are fighting over a small sliver of land that is barely worth anything. Hamlet asked about this counter and the Captain told him that he would not even pay five ducats for that piece of land to farm and Hamlet was fascinated by the Poles and Norwegians will to go to war over a piece of land that was not worth much. Fortinbras is a foil to Hamlet at this point because he puts his thoughts into action and Hamlet does not, but this inspires him to begin acting on his thoughts.

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,

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.

Elimination of Fortinbras’ character automatically eliminated the theme of war and changing Claudius’ reactions after watching the play (as he laughs instead of feeling guilty) took away the theme of guilt from the plot. Although, for the main theme of revenge, it is much more evident in the movie than in the play. Once the elements of war and guilt are removed, the movie focuses more on how Hamlet endeavors to avenge his father’s death. He isn’t shown rash, though he may seem hesitant. He waits for the perfect moment to take his revenge and bring his father (and mother by the end of the play)

It can be said that Fortinbras is an energetic leader and soldier with clear intentions from the way he can quickly assemble his men to attack Poland. Although Fortinbras says that Hamlet was a soldier, too, “and for his passage, the soldier’s music…”(5.2, 444-445), the reader sees Hamlet only as a scholar because he seems to only think things out rather than take action. Though, Fortinbras’ statement helps us understand that Hamlet was once indeed a good soldier. Scene two of the last act of Hamlet reveals the true character of Fortinbras. After arriving at Elsinore, he immediately acts upon seeing the disturbing scene, much like he acts in battle, “Let four captains bear Hamlet like a soldier…”(5.2, 441-450).

In William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras and Hamlet find themselves in similar situations.  While Hamlet waits for the right time to avenge his father's death, Laertes learns of his father's death and immediately wants vengeance, and Fortinbras awaits his chance to recapture land that used to belong to his father.  Laertes and Fortinbras go about accomplishing their desires quite differently than Hamlet.  While Hamlet acts slowly and carefully, Laertes and Fortinbras seek their revenge with haste. Although Laertes and Fortinbras are minor characters, Shakespeare molds them in order to contrast with Hamlet.  Fortinbras and, to a greater extent, Laertes act as foils to Hamlet with respect to their motives for

The King and the Prince Fortinbras are foil characters to the protagonist of the story Hamlet, and his father King Hamlet. In the story King Hamlet is already dead, so he appears as a ghost or spirit. He appears as a ghost to tell his son that something is not right and it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. This coming from a ghost is very sicking, so Hamlet listened to the dead King as well as his father. For the other characters above we do not meet King Fortinbras in the play and only see Prince Fortinbras.

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.

In Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Hamlet there are similarities between Hamlet, Fortinbras, and Laertes. They do have some character differences but they face many of the same challenges and are put in similar situations. All three of the men have lost their fathers and are seeking to avenge their deaths in some way. Hamlet is contemplating killing Claudius, Fortinbras has gathered an army to reclaim lands that his father lost, and Laertes will do whatever it takes to get revenge for Polonius’ death. The main difference between the three men is that Fortinbras and Laertes are willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goal while Hamlet spends the majority of his time in thought trying to decide the right thing to do.

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.

Next, Hamlet goes on to describes Fortinbras. He asks the audience to: "Witness this army of such mass and charge Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit with divine ambition puf'd Makes mouths at the invisible event,

Furthermore, Fortinbras is dead set on attacking Denmark and it seems no one can stop him. The death of his father lights a fire in him to kill at any cost and instead of taking care of his ill uncle who is on his death bed, Fortinbras leaves him alone and takes his time planning and training for his attack to kill the new king of Denmark. Shakespeare reveals that Fortinbras abandons his "impotent and bedrid" (I. ii. 29) uncle and trains his troops while "The lists, and full proportions are all made out of his subject" (I. ii. 32) to defeat Denmark showing his determination. Fortinbras wants to be the one who rights the wrong that the old king of Denmark has done to his father. He would go at any length to get the job done, thus making the reader see that he does not think things through before he does anything. Hamlet on the other hand is very indecisive about killing Claudius even though he knows Claudius is guilty of his father’s death. Although, Hamlet is not sure about what he is going to do to attack. Even though he wants to avenge his father’s death and obey the ghost, he is not as active or into the attacking

At his first appearance, young Fortinbras is shown to be inferior to Hamlet; being "of unimproved metal, hot and full" (1.1.96) Fortinbras is initially shown as a sharp contrast to the "sweet and commendable" (1.2.87) Hamlet introduced in the next scene. Despite going through emotional and mental highs and lows, Hamlet seems to constantly be in a state of regression and thought: