However, in the last scene of the play, it is made clear that Fortinbras admires Hamlet. He arranges for Hamlet to have a soldier"s funeral and speaks admiringly of Hamlet"s actions to avenge his father. These actions reveal Fortinbras" lack of complexity and his romanticized view of the world. In fact, according to Ian Johnston, Fortinbras is "a mindless romantic militarist, who defines his life in terms of pointless conquests in the name of glory. Life does not seem to trouble him because he comes across as an unreflecting man who asks nothing of life except that it provides him with some barren ground which he and his troops can fight over in the name of military glory.".

             Laertes differs from Hamlet and Fortinbras in that his father was definitely murdered. Laertes does not have to rely on the words of a ghost for proof of the murder, nor is the audience reduced to wondering if Hamlet really killed Polonius. The murder of Polonius occurs on stage and it is clear that Hamlet has killed Laertes" father. In addition to the murder of his father, Laertes has also had to deal with his sister"s suicide, which he also attributes to Hamlet"s actions. However, there is another crucial difference to the revenge sought by Laertes and the revenge sought by Fortinbras and Hamlet; unlike King Hamlet or Claudius, Hamlet seeks Laertes forgiveness. Furthermore, Laertes pretends to give Hamlet his forgiveness. Instead of forgiving Hamlet, Laertes has contrived to accept his apology as a way to set up Hamlet"s murder. However, Laertes plan is only partially successful: he manages to wound Hamlet with a poisoned foil, but is then killed when Hamlet wounds him with the same foil. However, as pointed out by Rob Moriarity, "killing another character was clearly not the correct path to solving problems; there was no clear judgment behind rash behaviour that included secrecy, lies, deceit, and murder.