A good number of plays has a central character who is seeking an item they think is rightly deserved to them. Fortinbras happens to be the character whom fits this mold. He is seeking the land of Denmark that his father lost via the defeat by Hamlet Sr. in battle. Phasing him out of the play itself would decrease the element of competition and comparison between himself and hamlet. Fortinbras is simply seeking to gain the control of the land he think he deserves. He also serves as Hamlet’s nemesis throughout the story seeking to triumph over him. Those are what make him a man on a mission.
The emergence of Fortinbras comes about in the beginning of Act 4. His quest begins with a trip to the coast of Denmark to ask for access to a piece of land in the middle of Denmark. The land ends up being worth nothing more than a few coins. Hamlet basically tells to the face of Fortinbras and his accompying army that battle and the potential loss of life are not worth all the trouble. “Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducurs will not debate the question of this straw. This is th’ impostume of much wealth and peace, that inward breaks, and shows no cause without why the man dies. I humbly thank you sir.” (IV.iv.25-29) As you can see, Hamlet is not about to lose lives over this puny piece of land. This ordeal brings to a close the first installment in Fortinbras’ quest for land in Denmark.
The purpose in this action of Fortinbras is clearly shown. His purpose in this piece is to simply get what he thinks is deserving of him and to take advantage of the landscape after the royal family itself implodes and things are not the same. He takes clear advantage of the altered landscape by taking over the land of Denmark and proclaiming the downfall of Hamlet and the land to everybody. He also recalls the early memories he once had of this land “Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. 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.” (V.ii.372-375) His feelings of looking back, a sense of closure and redemption all come to him. In the end, his overall plan is accomplished and Denmark falls to him at the hands of the destroyed royal family.
In this epic tale, Fortinbras seeks victory after Hamlet Sr. finished off his father at in battle. Emerging in the second half of the piece gives off a sense that he may eventually seek revenge over Hamlet for what happened in the past. Call him the one out to topple the main character whom inherited the conflict and rivalry from their forefathers before them. Fortinbras waits in the wings while the whole family conflict comes into play and the royal family falls apart at the seams. Laertus, Ophelia and eventually Hamlet all pass away leading up to Fortinbras making his triumphant entrance into Norway to announce his victory over his arch rival and the consequence of the royal family’s implosion. “This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death, what feast is toward in thine eternal cell, that thou so many princes at a shot so bloodily hast struck?” (V, ii, 349-352) This shows that Fortinbras took a step back and did not strike until Hamlet was at his lowest and weakest point. His conquest finally did turn into a reality with the kingdom now in the palm of his hands.
Taking Fortinbras out of this play would have an effect on the whole play itself. He adds an element of the enemy who is clearly out to change things and get what they are so much looking for. Fortinbras also serves as the equal to Hamlet with whom actions and results of those actions are measured upon and compared to. “Young Fortinbras, with conquest came from Poland, to th’ambassadors of England gives this warlike volley.” (V.ii.335-336) He was known throughout the land for his conquest and also what he was exactly trying to accomplish. At the end when the royal family falls and Hamlet is no more, who would take over the disenfranchised land with an absence of a ruling family who can keep it together and successfully rule the kingdom? It was Fortinbras with his clear motive, direction and will to succeed. It sounds like this man completed his mission after all.
William Shakespeare, Shakespeare: Second Edition, ed. Constance Jordan (New York: Person Longman 2005). 103,147,148.
