Hamlet
 
An Interpretation of Horatio's Speech to Fortinbras
 
Sir Fortinbras and noble knights of the army of Norway, I
stand before you today to tell a tale of a martyred hero to
whom we must remember. Hamlet be thy name. He was a friend
and a leader. About eight months ago Hamlet was distraught,
I'd never seen him like this before. He had a good excuse,
I mean his father had just died, his mom, god rest her
soul, remarried not even a month afterwards. Hamlet's
affair with Ophelia was dwindling in his giant fire of
emotions. Ophelia was the kings' servant's daughter. The
king's servant was Polonius. Polonius did not want Ophelia
with Hamlet, nor did Ophelia's brother Laertes. Hamlet was
under a lot of pressure, but it wasn't until a few of the
guards and myself saw a ghost whom we believed was Hamlet's
deceased father. This was the point of all of our lives
were you either take one path or the other each leading you
in a total different direction. Hamlet went to the guard
tower with us the next night and reasoned to our favor that
the ghost did in fact perpetuate the look of King Hamlet.
The ghost made a follow me motion to Hamlet and we grabbed
him. "Please do not follow Sir Hamlet," I pleaded. The
spirit was insistent and Hamlet's gut instinct drove him to
follow the floating omen. I know not the exact words that
the ghost spoke that night but from what I understand, he
was back from the dead to inform his son that he had not
died from the rumorous snake bite which had been presumed.
King Hamlet's brother, the current King Claudius, had
murdered him while he lay in the garden by pouring poison
in his ear. The ghost also informed Hamlet of an affair
that his mother had been having with Claudius. This bit of
information stunned and enraged if you will Hamlet. Hamlet
knew not what to believe. After all the ghost could have
just as easily been the devil himself for all we knew.
 
After that night Hamlet had many problems keeping sane or
so it looked to me. He hurt Ophelia just because the king
and Polonius set Hamlet up using the willing, beautiful
daughter as bait. I found out later that the cunning little
rascal was just acting to show incompetence to the revenge
plot taking place in his head. The most creative plot of
his plan would have to be when the players came to
Elsinore. Hamlet just out of the blue I guess thought of a
plan that was a sure fire way to prove beyond any doubt if
that what the ghost said was indeed fact or merely fiction.
He staged a renewed version of the play that the king would
watch that night. In this version, Hamlet's version, the
murder of his father was reenacted. It worked to. The king
was totally blindsided. By the kings behavior I was even
convinced. The best part of it all was that the king was
the only one who got it. This was apparently all Hamlet
needed for his revenge to take effect. 

Hamlet then went and told his mom about the ghost and what
he knew. I know not how nor why but under some circumstance
unknown to all but possibly Hamlet and his mother Polonius
died at the end of Hamlet's sword in Hamlet's mothers very
bedroom. Gertrude put on a wonderful act in the days to
follow. She showed no knowledge whatsoever of the murder of
which she now was very much aware. 

Meanwhile, Ophelia, now fatherless, completely lost all
touch of realty. She drowned within the next few days. I
think it was suicide.
 
Hamlet was sent by the king to England. I found out later
that the king had planned for him to be killed there. But
Hamlet squeezed out of yet another death trap. He showed up
back at Elsinore, where I met him, only to walk in on the
funeral of Ophelia. I remember thinking, can anything else
bad happen to poor Hamlet. Boy was that an understatement.
Ophelia's brother was dishonored by Hamlet's presence. They
decided to have a friendly little sword fight to settle
their differences. I knew of Laertes reputation with the
"fiddle stick". I thought Hamlet would have no chance
against Laertes. Boy was I wrong, as usual, Hamlet had been
practicing and showed cunning speed, skill and grace with
his rapier.
 
I was proud to be his friend. Then he died. I mean one
minute he is standing there all cool and stout looking and
the next he is lying there lifeless. He took out the king
and Laertes before he and his mom bought it. The king
killed his mom for those of you who do not know. Anyhow, I
loved that guy, he'll be missed. If a man's wealth was
measured by how much he was loved, then Hamlet was a very
wealthy man. 

Sir Fortinbras, I beg your forgiveness for this long boring
story. I hope since all the people I know are dead and
deceased that maybe you and I could be friends. Well you
think about it. I have to go help the gravedigger and clean
up your new castle.