HAMLET AND FORTINBRAS In Hamlet the character of Fortinbras, a young Norwegian prince, has been used as a foil for the main character Hamlet, 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. However, how they go about doing this is the complete opposite of the other. Hamlet, after learning that his father's death was murder and promising to take revenge, waits and makes sure that what he knows is the absolute truth before he even attempts to take revenge on Claudius. Even after Hamlet is sure beyond any doubts that Claudius is the murderer, he hesitates to kill him. Fortinbras, however, has been taking action even before the play begins. As the play opens, we learn that Denmark is in a state of alert. The audience learns that the country has been pre- paring for a war, and from Horatio, the they also learn that the young Fortinbras is getting ready his "lawless resolutes" for action against Denmark for the killing of his father and for the return of lands previously owned by Norway, (Hamlet I.i. 79-107) These differences between Hamlet's and Fortinbras' action are further mentioned in Hamlet's last soliloquy, (Hamlet IV.iv. 32-66) Before the soliloquy begins, Hamlet has been informed by one of Fortinbras's Captains that Norway is preparing to fight Poland over a "little patch of land", and that twenty thousand men are willing to fight for this worthless piece of land just for honor's sake. This begins Hamlet's last soliloquy. In it Hamlet is reflecting upon Fortinbras' determination to go against the Polish army for the honor over a trivial matter while he himself is taking such a long time in avenging the his father's fate and his mother's disgrace. The soliloquy begins with Hamlet's thoug...
