Horatio: A True Friend of Hamlet Essay

There was an unbreakable bond between mother and son that was completely destroyed when a mother married her husband’s brother. Gertrude and Hamlet are not as close as it seems. Hamlet’s feelings had changed towards his mother after she betrayed his father. Hamlet shows his true colors for his mother when he says,

One of the most important characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet would be the mother of Hamlet himself, Gertrude. Queen Gertrude played a devious and shameful role, which left many questioning her dignity throughout the play. She led a life of wealth and royalty, but could not find happiness in either. Gertrude had to put a twist on her life by quickly abandoning the man she one loved, King Hamlet, for his soulless brother, Claudius. In order to completely understand Gertrude's mystery and you must put yourself directly inside her character. She unravels her thoughts and emotion mainly in Act 3 of the play where she begins to understand the measures Claudius took to obtain the throne.

He has stuck by Hamlet the whole time and has never deceived him. Since Horatio has seen the Ghost of king Hamlet, he feels the need to tell Hamlet” As I do live, my honour’d lord; tis true(1.2.10)” Horatio is saying that he is loyal to Hamlet and is telling the truth about seeing the ghost. Horatio is loyal to Hamlet and his honesty is what lets Hamlet trust him. When Hamlet has received a message from the Ghost, that would be very beneficial if everyone else knew about it, Horatio kept it a secret “My lord, we will not (1.5.23).” Horatio is saying that hamlet can trust him to keep it a secret and not tell anyone. Horatio is loyal to Hamlet because if he would have told anyone about his plan, it would turn out very bad for Hamlet. Even after hamlet dies, Horatio keeps his promise to never let Hamlet be forgotten about “ of that I shall also cause to speak (5.2.4059).” Horatio is saying that he is there to tell Hamlet's story, so that he will never be forgotten and all the events that occurred can be cleared up. Horatio was honest to his word to Hamlet when Hamlet asked for his story to be

     William Shakespeare wrote about a distraught prince trying to avenge the wrongful death of his father while all his faith in honesty and the good of man was nearly destroyed. In his play Hamlet, Hamlet is the prince and he is the one who would have lost all his faith in the good of man had it not been for his loyal friend Horatio. Many critics say that Horatio did not play such an important role in the tragedy, that he merely was the informant for the audience and that his character was not developed beyond that fact that he was just the honest confidant of Hamlet. That may be true, however, Horatio does serve two central purposes to the drama, and it is through these purposes

Horatio is the only honest character in Hamlet. The tragedy is made up of very different round characters and when read, it is easy to forget about Horatio and his role in the play. However, without Horatio, Hamlet would be an entirely different, more confusing tale. He is a resonant frequency in between dissonance. While Ophelia is brought to madness over Hamlet, Hamlet is brought to madness over his father and Gertrude and The King are just mad, Horatio is simply a true friend. It would be easy to argue that Horatio is not a round character, that he is flat and never developed, playing a minor role in the tragedy. But the steadiness of Horatio is woven into the play from the very first act to the last for a reason.

I believe that the ghost is trying to exploit Hamlet’s mental unstableness. Although the ghost’s purpose is not clearly stated in the story, it is obvious that he is trying to get revenge and justice for his death through Hamlet. After the sudden passing of his father, Hamlet became depressed. His emotions further intensified when King Claudius, his now stepfather, staged a gathering to essentially claim his spot as the new king of the Kingdom. After an argument during the event, Hamlet expressed his rage by a soliloquy, stating “… a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourn’d longer, -married with mine uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father that I to Hercules …” (line 150-153). Later in the play, the ghost reappeared

Truly, Horatio’s logical and radical judgment deeply affects Hamlet because there are instances wherein the main character thinks if his father’s ghost truly exist or not—and if he needs to perform the vengeance or not. In his book, J. Dover Wilson argues that “There is an intimation to the Protestant ‘philosopher’ Horatio, who does not believe in Purgatory, that the Ghost is associated with Saint Patrick not the Devil” (80), which means that the Ghost is not a devil, but a real ghost. Horatio does not play a large part in the novel—the same way Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius do. In fact, he is one of the minor characters in the play, but his character gives a significant contribution to the text because he is able to balance the ghostly ideas of Hamlet, Marcellus, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. With his wit and rationality, Horatio gives a scholarly judgment towards the ghost of King Hamlet, but the young Hamlet is deeply affected, leading to treachery. It is shown in the play that due to Horatio’s initial doubt on the existence of the King’s ghost, Hamlet is haunted with the situation—trying to defy the situation, but believing that he has a responsibility towards his father. This affects him—leading to treachery—because Hamlet himself becomes the victim of the deception that he once used with Horatio, especially

Hamlet’s terrible relationship with women is clearly seen all throughout the play. But the relationship between Hamlet and his mother Gertrude is one of mostly anger and resentment. Hamlet is angry at his mom for remarrying so quickly and not taking the proper time to heal over his father’s death which causes a huge amount of resentment. After his father’s death he stated, “Frailty, thy name is woman!” in regards to his mother’s emotional state. When Gertrude was married to King Hamlet, it seemed as though they really loved each other and Hamlet looked up to that but after the king's death and how quick she changed, Hamlet can’t help but feel that she betrayed not only him and his father but also their marriage and how sacred it was supposed to be. When she married Claudius, she ruined the relationship between her and her son and seems to continually choose Claudius over her own son. When Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father, he scolds her for the marriage to his uncle saying she is only in it because of the sex.

All of Shakespeare’s plays are tragedies. However, just like everything in life, not everything bad has all bad meanings. Horatio shows Hamlet, his dear friend, how much he means to him all throughout the play. Horatio is a perfect example of how true and dear friends should act towards one another. Even though Horatio is a major aspect in the play as well as Hamlet, Hamlet is the actor in which the most focus is on. The major part in the play that shows Horatio’s loyalty to Hamlet is the way he sticks by Hamlet’s side through love and after Hamlet’s death. Horatio lives on because of Hamlet’s wishes. Horatio shows his upmost gratitude to a friend that means a lot to him. Horatio exerts many positive characteristics

When the ghost, who is his father, confronts him and gives him the task to take revenge for his horrible murder. Although Hamlet accepts the task he really does fear to do so, because he feels that revenge is ultimately up to god to take, not himself or any other human. As the play progresses he finds it very difficult to finish his task. He is very indecisive and is halted with the thought of figuring out if the ghost is actually his father and not some demon, but also needs proof that Claudius is guilty of his father’s death. In Act II, Scene II, Hamlet stats that his father could be the devil, “May be the devil,

Horatio is Hamlet’s Rock of Gibraltar throughout the play. He confides in him alone, he submits his suspicions to the cot formation of Horatio’s judgment and finally dies in his arms, or trusting him with the justification of his acts to posterity. The first thing we hear of Horatio is that he is a scholar, and this intellectual bent he shares with Hamlet, but temperamentally they are opposites. Hamlet praises Horatio for the qualities that he himself conspicuously lacks. Horatio is not "passion’s slave;" he has an imperturbability of mind and spirit that nothing can shake. Hamlet, when he is about to test Horatio’s friendship and judgment says:

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father. Seeing a ghost could indicate that he is already mad. This causes him to display erratic behavior, indicating that he has become mad with his desire to avenge his father’s death. He also becomes quite melancholic over the death and murder of his father and begins to question life as a result. While Hamlet feels the need to avenge his father’s death, he also worries that the ghost may actually “be a devil who will betray his soul,” rather than the actual ghost of his father.

Hamlet in the beginning of the play portrays remarkably positive features. However, it is due to the nature of his motivating factor that he starts to lose trust in humanity. This is the case because after his father's death Hamlet has no one he can confide in anymore. His own friends began to spy on him, his mother turned the other cheek, and Claudius deceived him for the entirety of the play. In the beginning, both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were once considered to be Hamlet’s good friends. However, as soon as Claudius rose to power he summoned them to spy on the Prince and report back. Not only did Hamlet lose his much needed friends, but also his personal connection with his mother. Upon his father's death, he looked towards his mother for comfort. Instead all he received was a stern warning to cut it out and ditch his black get up for some more cheerful ones. Even though his mother and his friends deceive him, the root cause of the problem began with his Uncle Claudius. Ever since his Uncle married his mother, their relationship has never been the same. To make matter worse Claudius lies to Hamlet throughout the entirety of the play, pushing Hamlet even further off the edge. These types of emotional hardships can take a huge toll on an individual's character. As our hero loses his faith in life, he also loses love and respect for people

Despite Hamlet going crazy Horatio stays with him and listens to what he has to say not matter what, even when Hamlet sees the ghost of his father he is still stays with him and admits to seeing the ghost as well, when everyone else thinks Hamlet is crazy Horatio represents loyalty, reality, being wise and

Horatio is Hamlet’s best friend and advisor. Horatio never keeps anything from Hamlet. In Act one, scene one; Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus see the ghost of king Hamlet who was killed by his brother, Claudius. After the ghost disappears, Horatio tells Marcellus and Bernardo to reveal to Hamlet what they have seen.