Horatio Essay -- essays research papers

Horatio, The One True FriendWilliam Shakespeare wrote about a distraught prince trying to avenge the wrongful death of his father while tout ensemble his faith in honesty and the good of man was nearly destroyed. In his play small town, 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 ally Horatio. Many critics say that Horatio did not play such an important office staff 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 that yield the qualities that make Horatio memorable and admirable. Horatio is the harbinger of truth. It is through Horatio that the actions taken by Hamlet gain credibility. He is the outside observer to the madness. Hamlet could soliloquize on and on, b ut it is his conversations with Horatio that gives sanity to Hamlets thoughts. His second role is to be the loyal, truthful confidant of Hamlet.The audience meets Horatio in the opening scene of the play. Marcellus and Bernardo, the danish pastry officers on guard at the castle, ask Horatio to speak to the vision that came to pick up the castle. He is asked by the officers to speak to the spirit because he is a most educated scholar and the only one among them qualified to speak in such an intimidatin...