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Hamlet, a la Shmoop. This little piggy went to Denmark.

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Let us get something straight right off the bat. “Hamlet” is not an omelet filled

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with ham.

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Although that sounds delicious, the Hamlet we’re talking about is even worse for you.

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Especially if you happen to be hiding behind a tapestry.

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In fact, so many people die in Hamlet…

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… that Rambo has body count envy. So if practically everyone gets sent to meet

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their maker…

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…why does this Fortinbras guy… who’s only in the play for two-point-two seconds…

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get to make it out alive? First of all, Fortinbras shows up just after

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all the madness and bloodshed has wrapped.

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Pretty convenient if you ask us.

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So… was it simply a matter of good timing?

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Everyone who had a problem with anyone was already pushing up daisies by the time he

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came traipsing through the door…

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…so maybe good fortune was just shining on the guy.

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It’s good to be the Prince. But would Shakespeare have spared the guy

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just because he arrived on the scene fashionably late?

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We know how much Billy Shakes loved bumping his characters off… surely he had a better

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reason? Was it because he wanted to comment on the

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scene of death and destruction left in Hamlet’s wake?

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Horatio was one of the fortunate few who witnessed all the carnage and lived to tell the tale…

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…and it was only fitting that he acted as a narrator in the waning moments…

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…but having Fortinbras stroll in gives Horatio someone’s ear he can bend.

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Otherwise, Horatio would have had to deliver a monologue…

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…and Hamlet had already fulfilled the monologue quota for the day.

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But wait… when has Shakespeare ever shied away from ending with a big ol’ monologue?

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Was there another reason Fortinbras gets to keep breathing?

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Perhaps he was a foil for Hamlet.

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In other words, maybe we are supposed to see the drastically different lives of these two

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princes, and contrast them.

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By witnessing the military success and lack of emotional turmoil exhibited by this Prince…

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…we can imagine where Hamlet might be today if he hadn’t been dealt such an unfortunate

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set of circumstances. Did Fortinbras simply avoid the sweet release

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of death because of an uncanny sense of timing?

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Was he nothing more than a literary device, so that Horatio had someone to tell his story

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to?

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Or was he meant to represent Hamlet… new and improved?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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