FORTINBRAS             Let us haste to hear it

And call the noblest to the audience.

For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune.

I have some rights of memory in this kingdom

Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.   (5.2.370-374)

Fortinbras is being statesmanlike, royal in fact—slipping into the plural—let us haste to hear it and call the noblest to the audience. Alright then, you unassuming student type, who appears to be in charge, sort of, we’ll hear your explanation, this terrible story you want to tell—let’s go about it quickly and get all the important people, including the ones who aren’t here, to come and listen too. (The implication is, they’re going to go somewhere else.) They need to hear this—and partly, Fortinbras also needs witnesses, he needs his next statements and actions to be seen and heard publicly, because he’s about to claim the Danish throne: for me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune. I’m really sorry that it’s ended up like this. No, really. But it’s the only way forward, clearly? Good luck for me, albeit bad luck for pretty much everyone else. (In productions where Fortinbras is accompanied by significant numbers of heavily-armed soldiers, his protestations can ring a little hollow.) I have some rights of memory in this kingdom which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. I’ve got some entitlements in Denmark—disputed territories, for a start, as well as, perhaps, a place in the Danish succession—and now’s the time to press my advantage in that respect. I’d be a fool not to. I’m stepping up, staking a claim, and I don’t think anyone’s going to stop me. ARE they?