In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Albert Camus’s The Outsider there exists a sense that Horatio is a better friend to Hamlet than Raymond is to Meursault. At first glance this may seem correct however, that is not the case. This essay will cover the following topics: benefit, relatedness, and trust. For the purposes essay, “better friend” means how close the two characters are and how much Hamlet or Meursault philosophically benefit from the friendship; benefit is whether or not the character helps his friend achieves a contentedness with the meaning of life; and relatedness means the extent of understanding that the character had of his friends situation. Raymond is a better friend to Meursault than Horatio is to Hamlet. Raymond
