It is perhaps Shakespeare's greatest play - certainly his most well known - and has been argued over and debated about for centuries. Within this commentary I will be looking at the last section of the final scene in Hamlet, Act V scene 2, lines 387-433 (although for the purpose of this work the line numbers will be numbered 1-47). I will be looking at this closing scene in relation to some of the themes of the play itself, in particular that of action and that of revenge; not only Hamlet's revenge for the murder of his father, King Hamlet, by his uncle Claudius, but also that of Fortinbras, prince of Norway, whose own father died at old Hamlet's hands. Being the conclusion of what is regarded as Shakespeare's finest example of 'tragedy', I will be looking at how close this ultimate passage comes to the traditional notions of what constitutes tragic drama.
This passage opens with the entrance of the Norwegian prince, on his way back from a war for a minor piece of territory in Poland ("the Polack wars," as described by Horatio, line 18), and the ambassadors from England who bring news that Hamlet's "commandment is fulfilled,/That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead."(lines 11-12). What has just happened? A fencing duel has taken place between Hamlet and Laertes, organised by the paranoid Claudius, plotting to have his nephew poisoned during the bout, and the angry son of Polonius, who vowed to avenge the deaths of his father and sister Ophelia, deaths for which he blames Hamlet. The duel swung in Hamlet's favour, but quickly turned sour as he and Laertes were both cut by the poisoned blade. Soon all four lie dead: Claudius, Hamlet, Laertes, and Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, all killed by the poison which could be taken as a symbol for the 'rotten' corruption at the very core of Danish politics.
Now Fortinbras has arrived, he is taken aback at the sight of the corpses: "This quarry cries on havoc" (line 4), as are the English, who remark that Hamlet's "ears are senseless" (line 10), for they cannot inform him of the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. It is interesting that they should mention the ears, as this is a running theme within the play - it is into the ear of old Hamlet that Claudius administers the lethal poison, for example. It is then that Horatio begins to recount the terrible tale to the newcomers, while the ever-warlike Fortinbras orders Hamlet's body be borne in military ceremony: "Let four captains/ Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage" (lines 40-41).
Here Fortinbras wins the crown of Denmark not in duel or battle, but by being simply bequeathed it by the dying Danish prince. Yet this prize is perhaps evidence that his own personal revenge against the Danes for his father's death has been attained. The theme of revenge pervades throughout this play - namely the revenge that is ordered by old Hamlet's ghost in the first act, to be carried out by his indecisive son. As we have seen, Laertes' own vengeance towards Hamlet earlier in this same scene had catastrophic consequences. However there is little sense of actual revenge within the language of the passage. Fortinbras'predicament is accepted by himself with grace and some surprise, although he does acknowledge his own ancient claim to the now vacant throne: "For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune./ I have some rights of memory in this kingdom." (lines 31-32) However, Horatio's description of the story he will tell (lines 22-28) sounds very much like a report of the type of 'revenge tragedies' popular in Shakespearian times. Elements of revenge tragedies, as described in the notes of Longman's Hamlet are said to typically include: "violent crimes with plenty of blood and murder; a fascination with the means by which these were committed; a ghost; madness; a play within a play; and characters of noble birth."
These "carnal, bloody and unnatural acts" of which Horatio speaks imply that the story is full of action, yet the themes of action and the inability to act are possibly the most central themes of the play, and apply to the character of Hamlet in particular. He questions himself throughout, over and over, and never fulfils the one task - to avenge his father's murderer - that he is charged with from the offset. He curses his own lack of action whilst watching the army of young Fortinbras marching across Denmark to their war in Poland (act IV scene 4, lines 45-47): "I do not know/ why yet I say 'This thing's to do/ Sith I have cause, and will, and strength and means /To do't", citing as his example the massive army he sees before him, going off to die I battle defending a tiny strip of land. There is an irony in the final scene then, when Fortinbras arrives, because Hamlet has finally carried out his revenge action, yet it was ultimately too late for him. Tragedy lies herein, when Fortinbras states that had Hamlet become the King, he would have "proved most royal". This may be simply, of course, Fortinbras' own personal view, that because Hamlet finally took vengeance rather than refused to listen to a crazed old ghost he would have been a stronger ruler, and not necessarily the conclusion to be taken from the tale; although at this juncture the young Norwegian had yet to be told the full story by Hamlet's friend, and was judging only what his eye saw.
The language used in this last passage relays many graphic images of the scene. Several words are repeated, such as 'bloody', which is mentioned a total of three times, as is 'death', an apt theme which also rings within the "casual slaughters" (line 24, Horatio). Horatio hints at the depth of corruption and deceit, and the ultimate tragedy that most of this could have been avoided: "Of accidental judgements" (line 24), "purposes mistook/ Fall'n on th'inventors heads…"(line 27), "…lest more mischance/ On plots and errors happen" (lines 37-38). He also makes a reference to Hamlet's supposed madness in line 38: "Even while men's minds are wild…". Fortinbras, however, thinks of Hamlet in a much more militaristic way, likening him to a soldier, in fact mentioning the word 'soldier' three times in the same last speech.
Hamlet as a play is full of questions about the nature of action and decision. Beginning in a wide open space, the cold night of the castle walls at Elsinore, it finishes nevertheless in a closed environment; Hamlet even uses this closed door imagery in his language when finally he acts out his father's orders. I would say though that the fact that old Hamlet's ghost does not reappear at the end is important. The bloodshed is a vital way of cleansing the rotten state, and the introduction of Fortinbras heralds a new era for Denmark, out of the corrupt and cursed past. This situation compares to that of sixteenth century England, when it was suggested that the infidelities of Henry VIII and his breaking away from the Catholic church would ultimately lead to ruin for his family and country. As it happened, his children bore not a single heir, fighting bloodily amongst each other until Elizabeth I's reign, which ended with a King from the north being invited down to rule the dominant country of the island. Considering the period when Shakespeare was writing Hamlet, I think this very aspect of contemporary politics had a big influence on this story's outcome, and should ultimately be seen in this light.
Pete Scully, January 2001