Hamlet's Admiration of Fortinbras

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Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet is about the prince of Denmark, Hamlet, and his quest to gain revenge of his father’s, King Hamlet’s, vicious murder which was committed by his uncle, Claudius, in the name of power and fortune. Hamlet is, at times, indecisive and hesitant thus he admires the passionate and even violent character of Fortinbras. This passage from Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s play, portrays the theme of the relationship of thought to action by demonstrating how Hamlet’s admiration for Fortinbras’s dedicated character compels him to make rash decisions in order to fulfill his word. This passage is a soliloquy given by Hamlet, in Act 4 Scene 4, which explains why Hamlet was willing to take drastic measures to avenge his father.

The relation between thought to action is prevalent in this passage because Hamlet speaks of how he had promised his father that he would get revenge for his father’s death, however thus far in the play he has done absolutely nothing more than talk. Hamlet questions himself, “How stand I, then, / That have a father killed, a mother stained, / Exciteme...

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