Fortinbras - Role in The Play

Role in The Play

Although Fortinbras makes only two brief appearances in the later half of the play, he is referred to throughout: King Claudius sends ambassadors to Norway in the hopes of staving off his invasion, and they return with the news that he will attack Poland but leave Denmark alone. At the very end—after all the major characters except Horatio are dead—Fortinbras and his army enter, accompanied by ambassadors from England who have come to announce that Claudius's supposed orders to execute Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been carried out. With the throne of Denmark now vacant, Fortinbras is to be crowned ruler. This may be an allusion to the political situation of the day: at the time the play was written, Denmark and Norway were united under a single crown; also, England itself was ruled by King James I, ruler of Scotland, who claimed the throne by virtue of his blood relation to Elizabeth I.

Fortinbras also serves as a parallel to Hamlet in many ways: Like the latter, he is motivated largely by the death of his father, whose name he also bears (as Hamlet does his) and they both serve as the prince of their respected countries. In other respects, Fortinbras serves as a foil for Hamlet: While the Danish prince is deliberate and given to long-winded soliloquies, the Norwegian is impulsive and hot-headed, determined to avenge his slain father at any cost.

Fortinbras - The Play

Fortinbras by Lee Blessing is a play in which Fortinbras takes the role of protagonist. The actions of Fortinbras follow the plot of Hamlet -- the first scene is actually the death of Hamlet in original Shakespearian text. The rest of the play is in a vernacular, modern English. The play was published by the Dramatists Play Service Inc., Copyrighted 1992.

"Young Fortinbras, a modern man of action, enters during the last scene of Hamlet only to order the bodies of the royal family shuffled off while he devises the best possible media blitz to legitimize his ascension to the throne of Denmark. Horatio, sworn to the dead Hamlet to convey the truth of his actions, is immediately cast by Fortinbras into the role of an unwilling public relations person. Meanwhile, Fortinbras is forced to balance a disastrous and mistaken invasion of Poland with a seductive and harrowing array of ghosts, ranging from a vampish Ophelia to a repentant Claudius and Gertrude, all of whom cast doubts in his mind as to what really makes up the character of a ruler. Finally, Horatio, driven to madness by the refusal of everyone to believe in him, assassinates Fortinbras and then kills himself. In the afterworld, all of the characters reconvene, wiser now by their deaths and ready to make a new go of it in Elsinore."--Publisher description.