I was wondering if I could possibly be granted an extension on the assignment due Friday. Unfortunately I’m a bit behind as I recently witnessed the deaths of the entire Danish royal family and the Norwegian invasion of Denmark. This has made it somewhat difficult for me to focus on my work.
can someone who knows about you/thou divide in shakespeare help me out bc I just skimmed through all of horatio and hamlet’s interactions to find that hamlet consistently refers to horatio as “you” in act one, but starting with his very heartfelt speech in act 3 scene 2 praising horatio, he consistently uses “thou” until the end of the play (which does, sadly, imply that “o, I could tell you— but let it be.” is not actually directed at horatio…) more interesting to me is that horatio only ever uses “you” to refer to hamlet until after hamlet has died, when we get “goodnight sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” does this have to do hamlet with hamlet being dead? or?? what are the general connotations of you/thou at this time (bc I know it has changed over time). why did the changes happen as they did or does literally none of this matter ?
Ok but consider: A production of Hamlet that starts with the last scene and then Horatio has to play his role in the rest of the play, but he’s still completely dissolved in tears. Everyone else is oblivious and he has to keep it together for the sake of storytelling, but his voice cracks as he says “I think I saw him yesternight”, regret filling his tone, and he frantically holds on to Hamlet as he begs him not to follow the ghost; he practically chokes on his words as he shouts, “Be rul’d!” And he knows it’s no use, but he’s so reluctant to play his part in this and he can barely keep his emotions at bay.
And then the end of the story draws nearer. He takes longer and longer to say his lines. He hesitates, tries to stretch out the little time he’s got left with Hamlet. He doesn’t want to be in this narrative, but he is.
Until finally, as Hamlet decides to duel Laertes, Horatio simply gives up. Reluctantly, but knowingly, he accepts the fact that there’s nothing he can do but play his part and relive it all, just to honor Hamlet’s legacy and story.
And Hamlet dies in his arms a second time.
Can't stop thinking about how it's Horatio and not Hamlet who is in both the first and last scene. This is the story of Hamlet, but somehow the play begins and ends with Horatio, because even though it's about Hamlet, it's not actually his story. These are the things Horatio has witnessed - the things we as the audience have witnessed alongside him - and he is going to "speak to the yet unknowing world [h]ow these things came about" (Hamlet, 5.2.364-365). We start with Horatio witnessing the appearance of the ghost and we end with him surrounded by the dead, vowing to tell their stories.
*laying on my floor staring at the ceiling, completely distraught* I mean, what even is Horatio’s role in the play??
“Horatio, Friend to Hamlet.”
Horatio, stranger, young student, trusted confidant and friend of Hamlet, trusted aid to everybody else in Elsinore, advisor, assister, orator, oracle, Cassandra, mourner, witness to all events unfolding, lingerer in all scenes with no dialogue, more an Antique Roman than a Dane, thou that he knowest thine, the sole survivor of tragedy, the audience itself-
SOMETHING about holding your dead gay lover in your arms hysterically and sobbing and charged by their last wish that you live on. This is about Merthur and Hamratio btw.
spock only admitting kirk is his friend once he thinks kirk has died in amok time has the same energy as horatio only calling hamlet “thee” after hamlet has died. in this essay, i will