Why Is Horatio Important In Hamlet

A Friend: often defined as a person who is on good terms with another or someone that provides assistance to the person in question. A Friend is someone that is willing to help you at any given moment, a person that is with you through the best of times and the worst. A person that doesn’t turn their back when the odds aren’t in your favor. A person that advises you on how to better yourself and how to keep oneself sane in today's never-ending maze of decisions and dilemmas. In the case of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the seemingly never-ending grief that is brought upon him due to the assassination of his father brings him to realize the true value of his friends around him. While most of the characters in the play seem to have extremely selfish …show more content…
Horatio provides Hamlet with guidance and supports him until the moment of his demise. Using the character of Horatio, Shakespeare suggests that loyalty and support are qualities only provided by the best of friends and that these are qualities that cannot be found with ease in today’s world. Shakespeare exemplifies this rarity by ending the play with Horatio being the only real friend Hamlet has at the moment of his death. Despite the fact that Hamlet is surrounded by traitors; such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, former friends of Hamlet who have turned on him in favor of king Claudius, Horatio remains a true confidant who always presents his constructive thoughts to Hamlet with utmost thoughtfulness and care. Even if his ideas conflicted those of Hamlet’s, Horatio isn’t scared to question Hamlet’s rash actions. This willingness is demonstrated when the ghost of king Hamlet appears and convinces Hamlet to confer with him in private. Horatio tries to break the ghosts momentary spell over Hamlet by stating, “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord? Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff…And there assume some horrible form/ Which might deprive your sovereignty of …show more content…
Seemingly Horatio has passed this test successfully as he stood by Hamlet’s side even when he realized that Hamlet could do him no more favors as he was a dead man. Throughout the play, Hamlet has recognized Horatio’s trustworthiness and loyalty which leads him to build a bond strong enough to last past the death of Hamlet. While Hamlet has purposefully ignored Horatio’s call to caution multiple times, Hamlet still maintains complete trust in Horatio. He trusts him so much so that he leaves Horatio the task of building his legacy and fixing his name. That wish alone couldn’t have been placed on anyone but a loyal friend let alone all of Hamlet’s other