Hamlet (4,4) Prince Fortinbras

Hamlet is brought in tow to the port, a prisoner, a sheep to his slaughter. An army is at the scene but not Denmark’s. It is Norway’s army led by the volatile Prince Fortinbras. We heard of him in the opening of the play. He was the reason why the kingdom was so busy in military preparations that they did not divide the Sunday from the week and the night was joint-laborer with the day. Claudius was able to still that storm. We will hear from Fortinbras again, at the end of the play, to acquire what he sought without bloodying a sword. It will just fall onto his lap like a ripe apple.

At this point, however, Fortinbras is heading off to fight another war. There will be heavy losses in it, and it will be for hardly more than a matter of honor. But Hamlet will take a lesson from the example.

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Fortinbras will be seen now only briefly, but in that time becomes for Hamlet a remarkable warrior-prince. Not an ideal philosopher, like Horatio, commingling blood and judgment, but a soldier who dares, who can be rash, eager - and competent - to pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon. Who throws off shackles the elderly try to bind him with.

-- Marvin Rosenberg, “The Masks of Hamlet”

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The Natural World

Funny Wildlife

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Pop

I was wondering what was taking Pop so long from claiming the big room this evening. It’s almost ten o’clock. He is doing another of his little home-improvement projects. He is cleaning out one of the refrigerators, and he just leaves the door open for hours, like that is not supposed to hurt the food and drinks. I take the stuff I care about and stuff it in the other refrigerator. It is great that he still has this sort of energy; one only wishes he could sometimes think to do something actually useful and which doesn’t cause more harm than good. But at least he is not lying crippled in bed, waiting for me to empty his bedpan, right?