The Dramatic Conclusion of Hamlet
 In the concluding scene, the action is fast, moving swiftly to a
final catastrophe involving the deaths of all the main characters
except Horatio and Fortinbras
 It is significant that the play is framed between the military
preparations of Fortinbras, mentioned in the fist scene, and the
timely arrival of Fortinbras in the final scene, when he claims
the throne of Denmark and has Hamlet nobly carried from the
stage with “soldier’s music and rites of war.”
 Hamlet and Fortinbras never actually meet during the play.
Fortinbras is just spoken of in Act I, scene 1; he leaves before
Hamlet enters in Act IV scene 4; and he arrives at the Danish
court just after Hamlet’s death in the last scene. Yet Hamlet
does come across Fortinbras’ army in Act IV, Scene 4, and this
incident serves to contrast—both for the audience and for
Hamlet himself—the daring, honourable and assertive
character of Fortinbras with the uncertain and aggressive
Hamlet
 Witnessing Fortinbras’ efforts to regain his father’s lost territory
and Hamlet’s struggle to avenge the wrongs committed against
his father by Claudius, there is an evident parallel. Each son
accomplishes his mission by the end of the play, and although
Hamlet forfeits his life for this purpose, he dies and honourable
death, which Fortinbras confirms when he accords Hamlet
soldiers’ rites
 It is in comparison with Fortinbras that we can measure the
change in Hamlet from the adolescent scholar at the beginning
of the play, to the young man more mature in thought and
more prepared for action in Act IV, Scene 4, to the brave
avenger figure he becomes before his death