The Similarities Between Fortinbras And The Gravediggers

“The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there 's no risk of accident for someone who 's dead.” – Albert Einstein

It is the great equalizer; the end of all things. Death, he who comes for all and spares not a soul. Such a powerful and unstoppable force is undoubtedly the root of all of the greatest fears of failure and of life in general.

“The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.” – Thomas Carlyle

The role of death as an equalizer is not only evident in its power, but also in that it can bring people with significant differences onto the same plane of thought; this is an occurrence between the lowly Gravediggers and Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, in Hamlet.

Fortinbras is undoubtedly wealthy with a vast amount of political power. Not only is he the prince of Norway with control over the armed forces or the country itself, he communicates (via messenger) with Claudius and the rest of the Danish royalty directly. The Gravediggers, however, are the exact opposite—they are peasants with undesirable jobs who have no political power or prestige. In fact, they don’t even initially recognize Hamlet upon his arrival to Ophelia’s grave with Horatio, and thus are shown to be completely removed from the socio-political spectrum, with no power over resources save for the shovels in their

Such would echo common belief among Norse warriors of the ages before Shakespeare’s time, as they believed that the soul continued on after death—especially for those who fell in battle—that would then travel on to Valhalla or Fólkvangr, which were places of honor and pleasure for those who had been deemed to have died honorably (Willis). The finality of death is embodied in his address of death’s “eternal cell;” this is Fortinbras’ strongest connection with the Gravediggers, along with his recognition of the equality that comes from death: “That thou so many princes at a shot.” The Norwegian prince knows that upon death, a prince with all of the riches and wealth he could possibly want is no different from a peasant who worked an undesirable job, or from a jester, or any other great man who had walked the earth before