Horatio †Unsullied Character in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- GCSE En

Horatio Unsullied Character in Hamlet Perhaps even more innocent than Ophelia in Shakesperes Hamlet is Horatio. This essay will treat his character in depth, including many literary critical evaluations. Who is the plays historian? None other than Horatio. In the first scene Horatio gives a detailed history of what has gone before regarding King Hamlet Our last king, Whose image even but now appeard to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto prickd on by a most emulate pride, Dared to the combat in which our valiant Hamlet-- For so this side of our known world esteemd him-- Did slaughter this Fortinbras who by a seald compact, Well ratified by law and heraldry, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror Against the which, a moiety competent Was gaged by our king which had returnd To the hereditary pattern of Fortinbras, Had he been vanquisher as, by the same covenant, And carriage of the article desig nd, His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimproved mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Sharkd up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach int which is no other-- As it doth well appear unto our state-- But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost and this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch and the chief matter ... ... Press, 1992. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html West, Rebecca. A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT Yale University Press, 1957. Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. Shakespeare. Literature of the Western W orld. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992. Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. Hamlet A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N. p. chemise Books, 1958.