Hamlet

Act 2, Sc. 2, lines 60-80: How is Fortinbras different from Hamlet?

King. [Enter Polonius, Voltemand, and Cornelius]

Welcome, my good friends.

Say, Voltemand, what from your brother in Norway?

Voltemand. Most fair return of greetings and desires.

Upon our first, he sent out to suppress

His nephew's levies, which to him appeared

To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;

But better looked into, he truly found

It was against your highness. Whereat grieved,

That so his sickness, age, and impotence

Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests

On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys,

Recieves rebuke from Norway, and, in fine,

Makes vow before his uncle never more

To give th'assay of arms against your Majesty.

And his commission to employ those soldiers

So levied, as before, against the Polack,

With an entreaty, herein further show, [Giving a paper]

That it might please you to give quiet pass...

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Young Fortinbras is considered to be a character foil to Hamlet. Hamlet is impressed that Fortinbras is such a "masuline man" ready to risk lives simply for a fight. He wishes he wasn't such a coward over something that has really insulted him. Hamlet resolves to be a "tough man" just like his hero Fortinbras. Hamlet launches into a self deprecating rant about how much of a coward he is. He is impressed by Fortinbra's aggression over a "straw" and laments his own inaction over feeling personally used and insulted.