Horatio and Hamlet Analysis

Horatio and Hamlet Hamlet by Shakespeare is a story whose plot contains an entanglement of emotions like betrayal, love, and the longing for revenge. Through the maze of Hamlet, Horatio and Hamlet are the two characters that must depend on one another. Horatio is Hamlet's most loyal friend and he is the only one he can trust when it comes to the planning of his revenge plan toward the king. However, questions arise when "what ifs" come to play. Horatio accompanies Hamlet to the meeting of the ghost, assists in the confirmation of the King's guilt, and witnesses the death of Hamlet. Many times Horatio gives advice to Hamlet, but Hamlet driven by his revenge, refuses to listen to him. Hamlet listens to no one except his father, the ghost, who only helps in the dramatic irony of his pitfall as the young prince of Denmark. The milestone of the play is when Horatio tells Hamlet of his father's ghost. Hamlet watches the night sky and encounters his father; as he beckons to go with, Horatio pulls him back and warns him of the dangers of giving into a ghost's trickery. "What if it tempt you toward the flood...Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff [t]hat beetles o'er his base into the sea, [a]nd ther assume some other horrible form [w]hich might deprive your soverignty of reason [a]nd draw you into madness"(Shakespeare 29). Hamlet responds with anger and refuses to listens to Horatio, even threatening to "make the ghost [of the man who] lets [him]"(Shakespeare 30). If Hamlet had listened to Horatio, he would have never found out the truth of his father's death, and Hamlet would not want to get revenge and cause the death of many others. Horatio does give some good advice and if he had tried harder to persuade Hamlet instead of letting him go because he was literally afraid for his life, then maybe he could have convinced him not to go with the ghost. Nonetheless, Hamlet does go with the ghost where he finds out about the death of his father. His Uncle murdered the old King Hamlet for the crown. In this new found knowledge, Hamlet is told to avenge his father's death. Before Hamlet is able to complete the task, he comes up with a plan to confirm that the king is guilty of murder. Horatio is the first to know of Hamlet's plan; he asks Horatio to watch the reaction of the King during a play "directed" by Hamlet. When the two meet, it is then evident that King Claudius poisoned his brother. "Oh good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pound. Didst percieve?/ Very well, my lord"(Shakespeare 82). The friendship and trust between Horatio and Hamlet is much more than just a regular friendship, it is more of a brotherly relationship and in the position that Hamlet is in, Hamlet is who Horatio is keeping sane. They need eachother to be able to survive the continous transformation and demolition of the people in the castle. When Hamlet returns to Denmark, a confrontation between Laertes and Hamlet results in a fencing match when they return to the castle. Horatio, being the rational one, tries to convince Hamlet not to fight, but to no avail. He warns Hamlet that he will lose the fight, but Hamlet convinces himself that since Laertes has been out of the country he has been out of practice while he has been consistent with his studies of fencing. Hamlet is set on dueling Laertes "....I shall win at the odds.....[t]here is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all" (Shakespeare 146). The outcome of the play ends in the death of many people, the innocent along with the guilty. Horatio is left standing alone, Hamlet's dying wishes. Although Horatio wishes to join his dying friend, he was given an important duty to perform; tell Hamlet's story. "O God Horatio, what a wounded name, [t]hings standing thus uknown, shall I leave behind me. If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, [a]bsent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain [t]o tell my story" (Shakespeare 152). Horatio is a loyal companion to Hamlet and even consideres taking his own life because he loves his friend and has witnesses Hamlet's heartache and anger. These two characters had a mutual relationship throughout the play, each balanced the other even though this was the cause of Hamlet's demise. If Horatio had been more headstrong and more forceful with Hamlet, and Hamlet listened to Horatio's pleading and advice, Hamlet would have had a different ending. If Hamlet had not been impulsive, less deaths could have occurred and perhaps he, himself could still be alive, or at least long enough until Fortinbras came to end their lives. Both charcters played an important role in the cause and effect of Hamlet and each small part, like Horatio's played along to Hamlet's fate.