Horatio

Horatio is Hamlet's closest friend. Unlike Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (also Hamlet's old chums), Horatio's loyalty and common sense are rock-steady throughout the play – so much so that he is Hamlet's only true confidant. At the play's end, his loyalty is clearly apparent when he offers to commit suicide (never a good idea) when his beloved Hamlet is dying (5.2.10).

Surviving to Tell Hamlet's Story

Hamlet insists, however, that Horatio live to tell the tragic story, and he does. Critics often note that Horatio's name recalls the Latin term "orator," (meaning "speaker"), which is fitting given that Horatio promises to put the dead bodies up on a "stage" while he tells Prince Fortinbras and the rest of the world what went down in Elsinore:

And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' reads: all this can I
Truly deliver. (5.2.18)

Hmm….that's interesting. This is sort of what Shakespeare the playwright does, isn't it? Wonder if it has anything to do with the play's overall obsession with the workings of the theater. Check out our discussion of "Art and Culture" for more thoughts about this.

Horatio's Skepticism

Aside from Horatio's survival at the play's end, the character is also notable for the way he's introduced at the play's beginning. When we first see Horatio, he's been called to the castle by the guards. But why? As Marcellus notes, Horatio is a "scholar" (he goes to school in Wittenberg with Hamlet), and therefore, is in a position to judge whether or not the apparition that's been appearing on the battlements is in fact a ghost. According to Marcellus, Horatio chides 'tis but [the guards'] fantasy, / And will not let belief take hold of him" (1.1.5).

Horatio, then, seems to be the embodiment of the Elizabethan skeptic, one who is well educated and doubtful of the legitimacy of ghosts. (Though many Elizabethans did believe in spirits, some viewed it as a superstitious and outdated belief. Check out our discussion of "Religion" for more on this.) Horatio is convinced of the spirit's legitimacy soon enough, but his initial skepticism introduces the first note of doubt in the play, one that will haunt his friend Hamlet for several acts. (Remember, Hamlet says he believes the ghost is his father's spirit but his delay in carrying out the ghost's orders for revenge suggests he's uncertain.)