Re: Horatio and Hamlet -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 23:46:07 04/26/08 Sat
Author: Hwaet!
Subject: Re: Horatio and Hamlet
In reply to: Katelyn R. 's message, "Re: Horatio and Hamlet" on 15:31:09 04/26/08 Sat

I think reading Hamlet as Horatio�s model is a fine reading. This might explain why Horatio is �of a truant disposition,� which is the reason he gives Hamlet for why he has left Wittenberg. Hamlet, because he actually listens to his conscience, proceeds haltingly throughout the play, and perhaps Horatio has witnessed Hamlet�s sputtering action long before the curtain opens on 1.1. If so, �a truant disposition� might be Horatio�s way of describing Hamlet as well as himself.

Also, I think Marcellus, Francisco, and Bernardo would know the dead king�s appearance better than Horatio would. Bernardo is first to identify the ghost as the king: �In the same figure, like the king that�s dead.� How well these guards could recognize the king is open to speculation. It�s interesting to think that perhaps the ghost�s identity is a rumor that�s been floating around awhile before 1.1. This would help to explain why everyone is so jumpy in 1.1, what with everyone talking about a ghost right before your lonely third shift. . . .

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