Fortinbras In Hamlet Act 4

Hamlet Quote Explications – Act 4
Theme: Is Life Worth Living?
“If his chief good and market of his time/ Be but to sleep and feed?” (IV, iv) On the way to the ship to take him to England, Hamlet discovers Fortinbras and performs this soliloquy. Despite Hamlet’s madness, Rosencranz and Guildenstern provide Hamlet with alone time reflect on his own life in comparison to Fortinbras. Unlike Hamlet, Fortinbras has found meaning in his life and maintained his reputation. This outburst of emotion from Hamlet is significant because it signifies that Hamlet has accepted his fate to damnation. Hamlet’s life bears no purpose and meaning to him anymore because he has done nothing meaningful in his life other than “sleep and feed”. Fortinbras, on the other hand, has taken steps to put his plan for revenge into action, and Hamlet sees this and realizes that he should be ashamed for his life and inability to take action. This soliloquy done by Hamlet is different from the others before this because he truly disregards his own fate, and Hamlet discovers a new found freedom that he has never previously had in his life. …show more content…
This quick spur to action by Laertes highlights how Hamlet and Laertes are foils to each other. Both of the characters take entirely different routes to accomplishing their goals of revenge for their fathers. Understanding how the two men are foil characters foreshadows the future conflict that will arise due to their differences. After the loss of their fathers, both of the men have lost most of their senses of reality; Hamlet and Laertes are much more likely to act out or make egregious mistakes due to their lack of sanity. Laertes’s wish to kill Hamlet only presents yet another obstacle that Hamlet has to overcome for him to also enact his plan for revenge. Both of the men are desperate to avenge their father’s death, and their future clash foreshadows to have fatal