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Date Posted: 02:00:09 02/20/08 Wed
Author: Joel Gehrke
Subject: Hamlet didn't know the value of what he had

Horatio is the model that Hamlet so desperately desired.


What is Hamlet's big dilemma? He think's that following his conscience equates to cowardice. I argue, based on the "craven scruple" line, among others, that Hamlet thinks that revenge is wrong, but that he has to kill Claudius, otherwise he is a coward.

Horatio, though, takes "Fortune's buffets and rewards with equal thanks" (3.2.58,59). His "blood and judgement are so well mingled / that they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger" (3.2.60).

Translation: Horatio thinks enough (that's Hamlet's big thing, thinking about everything) that he doesn't lash out passionately, but controls himself. His self-control, though, does not eradicate his humanity by repressing his emotions; he just keeps them in a proper balance.

That's what Claudius fails to do. That's what Hamlet fails to do.

Why doesn't he imitate Horatio? I think that it might go back to Hamlet and his models being royalty, and Horatio is not, but really, I'm not sure.

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