Hamlet Horatio Character Analysis

In some literary work, the author prefers to use some literary device and compare and contrast to emphasize the personality and emotional changes in the main character. In Hamlet, Shakespeare depicted a lot of distinctive character who foil with Hamlet. By bringing out their significant differences, it can make the main character shine brightly. I would like to discuss how Horatio, Laertes and Fortinbras foils with Hamlet and cite meaningful evidence to explain their differences better.

The first impression of Horatio is that he is Hamlet’s closest friend. Rather than Hamlet’s other two friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Horatio shows him full of loyalty to Hamlet throughout the whole play. The biggest difference is that not like the impulsive Hamlet who seeks to revenge for everything he encountered in his life, his …show more content…
Both characters are lost their father by other’s hand. Hamlet’s father was murdered by Claudius and Fortinbras’s father was killed by Hamlet’s father in the war. The only similarity between two characters is that they become princes and need to revenge for their father. However, rather than Hamlet’s indecisive and repeatedly conform Claudius’s sin and struggle to seek out his father’s murderer, the first thing Fortinbras did is to establish the army and fight into Denmark and gain more territory to his country. His behavior is totally opposite of Hamlet’s procrastination. Like the quote in act 4 scene 4 described, “Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king, Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras craves the conveyance of a promised march over his kingdom.” Fortinbras bring his troops into Denmark and try to occupy some of the lands in Poland. The most impressive part of this scene is Hamlet’s soliloquy, which can obviously know these two character’s different personality. As Hamlet thinks to himself, “How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge! What is a