AAT every turn in history, people will find a Fortinbras. The young Norwegian prince has only a minor role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, yet he embodies action as both greatness and absurdity.

One day, on a plain outside the city, Hamlet sees the prince marshal his army of 20,000 soldiers ready to

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot

Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,

Which is not tomb enough and continent

To hide the slain

B