In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet conspires to avenge his father’s murder. Throughout the play, Hamlet spirals through bouts of insanity, depression, and hostility. However, across his tragic tale, Hamlet’s old friend Horatio remains a constant. A scholar and a loyal friend to Hamlet, Horatio acts as one of Hamlet’s many character foils, meaning his characteristics contrast to Hamlet highlighting certain personality traits and allowing the reader to understand Hamlet.
Horatio’s minor role is vital to the story of Hamlet. He does not add anything to the plot of the play and instead acts as the voice of common sense. Horatio is an outside observer to the madness that ensues after the murder of King Hamlet. All of Hamlet’s soliloquies revolve around irrational speculations about death and decay. However, Hamlet’s conversation with Horatio ground the play in reality. In those conversations, Hamlet reveals his feelings to his closest friend. Horatio is the only one Hamlet can come talk to about what is going on in his life.
When the encounter with the ghost occurs at the beginning of the play, Horatio’s original skepticism introduces doubt. When Horatio agrees that the spirit exists, the readers are allowed to believe that the ghost was not a figment of Hamlet’s imagination. At the first sighting of the ghost, Horatio, urging Hamlet to stay away from the ghost, says, “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord.../And there assume some other horrible form/Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason/ And draw you into madness? Think of it./The very place puts toys of desperation/Without more motive, into every brain” (III.ii.75). Horatio is foreshadowing Hamlet’s descent into madness. Here, Horatio is...
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...hen he wants to clearly communicate the truth or show an issue from a certain perspective, he uses Horatio’s credibility. Horatio illuminates the consequences Hamlet may face and as an outside observer, allows the reader a glimpse inside Hamlet’s mind. Hamlet’s admiration of Horatio shows what Hamlet considers important in a man. Horatio, in contrast, shows Hamlet’s deep character flaws and allows the reader a deeper insight to who Hamlet actually is, not who he claims to be through his soliloquies. In the end, Horatio himself becomes a playwright, using bodies the tell the tragic tale of Prince Hamlet.
Works Cited
Kaplan, Michael I. "Hamlet & Horatio: The Many Faces of Love." Language and Literature Arts. Armstrong Atlantic State University, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Hamlet.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Although the play Hamlet is largely centered around the “tragic hero” Hamlet, it is the minor foil characters that gives us a deeper understanding of the text and a more conscious understanding of the internal struggles experienced by Hamlet. Each of these characters contrasts a specific aspect of Hamlet that would otherwise be overlooked. Horatio consolidates all of the desirable features that Hamlet wants to be into one person. Fortinbras, although in the exact same situation as Hamlet with his father dead and his uncle on the throne, is the complete opposite of Hamlet by choosing action over inaction. Finally, Ophelia personifies Hamlet’s innocence and the death of his innocence after the death of his father. Despite being opposites of each other, each of these characters bring a new outlook on the tragedy of Hamlet.
Horatio holds the seat of honor in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, for being the only character among the dramatis personae who is extremely close to the protagonist. Horatio’s emotional bond with the hero is paradoxically closer than that of Hamlet’s mother to the hero. This essay will examine the character of Horatio, Hamlet’s truest friend.
Hamlet addresses the spirit, which beckons him to follow it. Horatio tries to dissuade the willing Prince, for ghosts were credited with the vile intention of enticing men to their self-destruction (I.4.69-74):
The Shakespearean drama Hamlet shows much deception and crime. Few friendships in the play survive till the end. But Hamlet and Horatio, best of friends, are not even separated by the hero’s death. This essay will elaborate on this relationship.
After talking with the ghost, Hamlet, comes back to Horatio and Marcellus and tries to explain to them never to let anyone know what has happened. Both are very scared but agree to the prince’s, but both are still looking to find out what happened between the ghost and him. Further on in the evening Hamlet takes Horatio to the side and explains to him that no matter how odd he acted that Horatio say nothing. (And therefore as a stranger-you most need help you Act1 sc5 line 187-202) He basically explained to Horatio that he was going to be acting much differently than normal, and he told him not to ask questions. This here proves he knew what he was going to have to do. It shows that he was willing to get his revenge by any way possible.
At the start of the play, Horatio and his companions, Bernardo and Marcellus, witness the sudden and frightening apparition of Hamlet’s deceased father, former king of Denmark. The three friends are “[harrowed] with fear and wonder” as they encounter the ghost and Horatio is convinced to attempt conversation it (Shakespeare, I. I. pg. 2). Before engaging the ghost, Horatio recalls the time before “the mightiest Julius fell” when “the graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.” (Shakespeare, I. I. pg. 4) In that instance, the rising of the dead precipitated the brutal and premature demise of Julius Caesar, a horrible misfortune that rocked all of Rome. Likewise, Horatio sees the parallelism in the appearance of King Hamlet’s ghost concluding that his manifestation must be Fate’s morbid signal of impending doom and disaster (Weller).
Hamlet admires Horatio for the qualities that Hamlet himself does not possess. He praises Horatio for his virtue and self-control: "Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man/As e'er my conversation cop'd withal" (III.ii.56-7). Horatio's strength of character is unwavering, and Hamlet longs for the peace of mind that such stoicism must bring to Horatio:
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 7th ed.Ed Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Prentice Hall, 2004. 1307-1406
As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits. A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development. When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King. In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair. Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration. The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character. One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.
Throughout literature, there a character who provides a moral compass for other characters. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Horatio’s character seems fairly simple: somewhat of a “yes-man” to Hamlet, often agreeing with anything Hamlet says. However, at the end of the play we understand his significance, as he is one of the last survivors. This transition is unexpected because for most of the play, Horatio is a reserved character and doesn’t speak very often. Despite this, it is clear that Horatio and Hamlet’s friendship is extremely deep, and Hamlet trusts Horatio more than anybody. At first, the relationship is one of a prince and an advisor, but as the play goes on we realize they are in fact close friends. Horatio is much more than a “yes-man” to Hamlet, even though this may not be visible for most of the play. This friendship is due to three of Horatio’s characteristics: trustworthiness, loyalty, and admiration, which make him an ideal friend to Hamlet. These traits also inspire confidence in Horatio from other characters in the play. Even Shakespeare shows that he values Horatio by allowing him to survive at the end of the play.
Horatio is Shakespeare's utilitarian character. Horatio serves as a foil to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, prompts Hamlet to disclose his feelings, gives vital information in the form of exposition (verbal or in a letter) or verification of Hamlet's reality, and helps to build the suspense of the play. The only emotional aspect of his character is that he remains alive, and serves as a vehicle for Shakespeare's moral of Hamlet.
Horatio is the scholar who sees the world through the eyes of a scholar. Views things with cool and logical manner. Everyone recognizes this. When the ghost appeared before him and the other men, they urge him to talk to the ghost. In this there is double plot as it asserts Horatio's intelligence and it proves that Hamlet is not just seeing things.
When considering Hamlet’s generally isolationist and lonesome nature, it is possible to conclude that Hamlet suffers from a mental disorder. Throughout the course of the play, Hamlet tends not to share his inner feelings with others and does not have many close friends. One notable exception is Horatio, Hamlet’s closest and most loyal friend. Horatio is the only character to whom Hamlet expresses his true feelings, and Hamlet welcomes Horatio’s calm level-headedness, providing an insight into the kind of person Hamlet appreciates: “Give me that man / That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him / In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, / As I do thee” (3.2, 64–67). If Hamlet’s idea of a friend is any indication as to why he strays away from shar...
Hamlet is a tale of tragedy by Shakespeare which tells the story of the prince of Denmark who is on a quest to avenge the death of his father at the hands of his uncle whom subsequently becomes king of Denmark. This is what fuels the fire in the play as Hamlet feels the responsibility to avenge his father’s death by his uncle Claudius; however, Claudius assumed the throne following the death of hamlets father. It is in this context that we see the evolution of hamlets character from a student and young prince of Denmark to the protagonist and tragic hero in the play.