Comments on: Fortinbras, Hamlet

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 23:32:38 +0000

Who’s the Author?

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 21:20:36 +0000

In reply to Mark Lewinski. Hi Mark. Fortinbras is not an actor in the play. He does not interact with the other characters and does nothing to drive the drama. In that sense, he has no dramatic function. You are looking outside the drama at a context that you have selected, but regarding the text itself, he has no dramatic function.

By: Mark Lewinski

Mark Lewinski — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 10:46:27 +0000

Only if you have been brought up in a country never under threat of an invasion can you believe that Fortinbras has no dramatic relevance. Hamlet is a play framed by impending war, in a court revelling in its own amusement and ignoring that threat of war, as the whole first section of the play makes clear; and eventually, when all has unravelled, the character who is the impetus for that war appears on stage and takes over the country that ignored the impending war. No dramatic relevance? Duh.

By: Joelle

Joelle — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 04:48:49 +0000

Old Fortinbras is long dead during the action of the play and is the father, not uncle, of young Fortinbras. The current king of Norway during the play is only ever referred to as Old Norway and is the uncle of young Fortinbras.