Oh no! I had to edit the question to italicise the title
of this play and during the course of editing it, I am afraid that the quote was changed
from blank verse to prose! Sorry about that.
However, let
us remind ourselves what is happening in this scene. Hamlet sees a mass of Norwegian
troops, led by Fortinbrass, crossing Danish territory, on their way to Poland to fight.
What causes Hamlet to think about his own situation is the way in which these soldiers
are travelling to fight over "a little patch of ground / That hath in it no profit but
the name." The Poles and the Norwegians will fight for it simply to win "honour." Hamlet
is disgusted by this.
However, in this soliloquy, which is
actually Hamlet's final soliloquy in the play, Hamlet compares the action of Fortinbras
to his own. This is a similar sceen to Act II scene 2 when Hamlet compared himself to
the actor, because the comparison leaves him feeling ashamed. He sees Fortinbras ready
to "find quarrel in a straw / When honour's at the stake." With so little reason,
Fortinbras shows himself always ready to prove and fight for his honour. If Fortinbras
is so willing and ready to fight openly for his honour over such a little cause, where
does that leave Hamlet?:
How stand I
then
That have a father kill'd, a mother
stain'd,
Excitements of my reason, and my
blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I
see
The imminent death of twenty thousand
men,
That for a fantasy and trick of
fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a
plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the
cause...
Hamlet is ashamed by
the attitude of the soldiers, who for so little reason go to die, whereas he has done
nothing to fight for his own honour, when he has so much more reason to fight. He
resolves to have bloody thoughts from now on.
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