Fortinbras and His Role in Hamlet

InterestingPerson
Perspectives on Hamlet
7 min readJul 18, 2021
Rufus Sewell (Fortinbras) in Hamlet (1996) Photo: No Sweat Shakespeare

Ever watched a movie and wondered why a certain character even exists? Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet is a good example of a play that incorporates many characters, some of which have very minor roles.

As we know, Hamlet, at its core, is a play about madness and inaction. The play primarily focuses on Hamlet but are many other side characters that rarely appear but nonetheless play a critical role in how we interpret the play and its meanings. Fortinbras is a character that has quite an interesting function created by Shakespeare’s contrast between him and Hamlet is quite interesting. Fortinbras doesn’t really have a lead role in the play. We only see him from time to time and hear some occasional whispers about him. Yet, he’s arguably one of the most important characters in the entire play.

So why is he so important? What is the point of having him in the play? The two characters have a few similarities and have very similar goals throughout the play. Both have recently lost their fathers who were both Kings. Hamlet’s uncle has murdered his father Old Hamlet and Hamlet has been tasked with committing regicide. Similarly, due to tensions between Denmark and Norway, Fortinbras’ father has been murdered by Hamlet’s father. Both try to avenge their fathers, with different levels of success and determination.

Fortinbras marching towards Elsinore (Hamlet 1996)

One of the few times we actually see Fortinbras is when Hamlet encounters his army on his way to England. He sees Fortinbras and his troops marching towards Poland to “gain a little patch of ground” (4.4.17) that has been “garrisoned” (4.4.23) but “[has] in it no profit” (4.4.18). Hamlet says in his soliloquy that follows soon after:

“Witness this army of such mass and charge

Led by a delicate and tender prince

Whose spirit with divine ambition puffed

Makes mouths at the invisible event,

Exposing what is mortal and unsure

To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,

Even for an eggshell.”

(4.4.46–53)

From his observation, we can see that Fortinbras is willing to ‘[expose] what is mortal….for an eggshell’ (ie. risk people’s lives for an eggshell). Here, he compares their quest for a small bit of guarded land to trying to gain an eggshell, suggesting that he thinks that the idea is quite foolish. Through this exaggeration and the belittlement of their mission, we can see that the consequences of being too decisive and ambitious can be devastating.

On the contrary, whilst Fortinbras is clearly someone who has a lot of tenacity, we know throughout the play that Hamlet is quite indecisive. His uncle has murdered his uncle and his mother has married his uncle, making him quite unhappy and angry. Despite all of his frustrations, Hamlet really struggles to even do something. Whilst Fortinbras is determined and ambitious enough just to go for a small piece of land, Hamlet spends most of the entire play belittling himself for his inability to take action.

Hamlet with a group of actors (RSC Peter Hall 1965 Production of Hamlet)

In his third soliloquy, the extent of his indecisiveness is highlighted. In the following excerpts from his soliloquy, he responds to the performance of a group of actors performing a death scene:

Now I am alone.

Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!

Is it not monstrous that this player here,

But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,

Could force his soul so to his own conceit

That from her working all his visage wanned,

Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting

With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing —

For Hecuba!

What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba

That he should weep for her? What would he do

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

(2.3.508–521)

Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,

And can say nothing — no, not for a king,

Upon whose property and most dear life

A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?

(2.3.525–531)

He notices the “tears in [the actor’s] eyes” as they acted out the death of Hecuba which he describes as “nothing”. In addition, He contrasts himself with the actors by describing himself as a “John-a-dreams” and as a “dull….rascal”. He uses an allusion along with some quite negative language here to describe himself and his inaction, suggesting how worthless he feels. By highlighting the level of emotion the actors showed and how bereft of emotion he seems to be to ridicule, Hamlet reveals here the extent of his inaction and how pitiful and tentative he is.

Another point is that Hamlet has spent most of the play not taking much action or taking very little action that has been very ineffective and he has indirectly caused the deaths of many people. Polonius is mistaken by Hamlet as his uncle and he is accidentally murdered. Hamlet’s girlfriend, Ophelia, who is also the daughter of Polonius commits suicide after she learns of her father’s death. Claudius becomes aware of his goal of committing regicide and along with Laertes, he tries to poison Hamlet but it leads to his own death and the death of his wife, Hamlet’s mother. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, is also accidentally poisoned after their plan backfired.

Ophelia ( Sir John Everett Millais 1851–1852)

On the other hand, Fortinbras was able to avenge his father at the end of the play with a lot of ease. The ending is quite symbolic. The play ends with Fortinbras taking control of Denmark taking control after pretty much everyone dies, including Hamlet and his uncle. Shakespeare juxtaposes the amount of bloodshed and casualties caused by Hamlet during his plight with the minimal bloodshed that Fortinbras has caused, suggesting that being decisive is necessary to effectively do things effectively and quickly. Fortinbras declares himself King and states:

“For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune.

I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,

Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.”

(5.2.81–83)

As he walks in to see a ‘quarry’ (5.2.357) of dead bodies, Fortinbras claims he is presented with a ‘vantage’. Despite the tragedy of the scene, he is still able to make the most of the situation, suggesting he is a very opportunistic person. Furthermore, he even claims he has ‘rights’ to the Kingdom, revealing he is someone who is very strong-minded. Fortinbras’ use of very strong language does suggest he is quite a resolved and resolute person, contrasting the disparaging language that Hamlet uses to describe himself.

Rufus Sewell (Fortinbras) in Hamlet (1996)

In contrast, despite Fortibras’ ability to seize his opportunities, Hamlet struggles to take easy opportunities to kill his uncle. At one point in the play, Hamlet finds him his uncle alone, praying for forgiveness. His uncle is unaware of Hamlet’s presence, giving Hamlet an easy opportunity to kill him. However, he decides not to kill him yet, choosing to wait until he finds him sinning. Yet, Hamlet says to himself: “Now might I do it pat, now ‘a is a praying. And I’ll do it” (3.3.73–74). He repeats the word ‘do’, indicating that he’s aware of his ability to kill him quite easily right now. He even describes that opportunity as ‘pat’. Having said all of this, Hamlet, to our surprise, fails to use this opportunity. This shows how he is someone that is not very resolved.

Moving on, we can see that Fortinbras and Hamlet are quite contrasting characters. Hamlet’s inability to make choices quickly clearly was detrimental to him and faced many obstacles on his journey towards eventually killing Claudius such as not being able to take action when he needed to, foolish actions which hurt others and eventually being found out. Yet, Fortinbras was instead very decisive and was very ambitious and quick to act.

Overall, the role of Fortinbras is to be a foil character — we can see that these two characters are complete opposites and truly highlight each other. Whilst Shakespeare does show the consequences of being indecisive, he does also look at the importance of not being too decisive. Fortinbras was too decisive when trying to capture a plot of land in Poland. He was too statesmanlike and reckless at times but this quality ended prevailing in the end when he was able to take over Denmark.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Bibliography:

Fortinbras, Hamlet 2019, No Sweat Shakespeare, viewed 18 July 2021, <https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/characters/fortinbras-hamlet/>.

A Short Analysis of Hamlet’s ‘O, what rogue and peasant slave am I’ Soliloquy 2020, Interesting Literature, viewed 18 July 2021, <https://interestingliterature.com/2020/04/what-rogue-peasant-slave-soliloquy-hamlet-shakespeare-analysis-summary/>.

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