In “Hamlet,” Prince Fortinbras comes from Norway. He is the crown prince of Norway and the son of the former Norwegian king, also named Fortinbras.
Before the play begins, King Hamlet kills Fortinbras’s father in battle and wins Norwegian territory. Young Fortinbras therefore resembles Hamlet as a prince driven by the death of his father, but he is presented as a more decisive and military-minded foil to Shakespeare’s hesitant protagonist.
Claudius sends ambassadors to Norway to stop Fortinbras from attacking Denmark. The Norwegian prince redirects his campaign toward Poland, though his army passes near Denmark. After Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes die, Fortinbras arrives and becomes the likely new ruler of Denmark. England and Sweden are tempting alternatives because the play involves foreign diplomacy and warfare, but Fortinbras is explicitly Norwegian.