ACT IV, SCENE 4

Summary

This scene opens on a plain in Denmark. Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, marches with his army across Denmark on the way to Poland. Hamlet enters with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and meets a captain who describes the small and worthless piece of land in Poland young Fortinbras hopes to acquire. Hamlet reflects on the futility of war, bloodshed, and the persistent Poles, who will fight for their worthless land to the bitter end.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern walk ahead, affording Hamlet the opportunity to reflect in solitude. He contrasts his inaction to the aggressive behavior of young Fortinbras, remarking in despair, "How all occasions do inform against me, / And spur my dull revenge!" He is angry at himself for delaying his father's vengeance, especially as he watches nearly twenty thousand men bravely marching to their death for a meaningless piece of land. Hamlet resolves that from now on his "thoughts [will] be bloody, or be nothing worth."

Notes

In this scene, Shakespeare contrasts the actions of Fortinbras and Hamlet. The Prince, with shame, observes Fortinbras marching against Poland in an aggressive effort to honor his late father, a great military hero. Hamlet, in contrast, views himself as an inept son who, because of doubt and delay, has not avenged his father's murder. The young Prince knows he has let his own father down by his lack of action. Motivated by the sight of the brave soldiers marching to Poland, he promises that all of his future thoughts will be bloody ones against Claudius.

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