Cavin Pledger Hamlet Blog Response

Shakespeare wants to create a balance of character between Horatio and Marcellus. Horatio seems to be anxious compared to Marcellus who is calmer about things and more sensible. After the ghost had appeared Horatio said “this bodes some strange eruption to our state” (I i 80). Marcellus replied “ good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, why this same strict and most observant watch so nightly toils the subject of land”( I i 81-83). The modern reader can relate to this relationship because everybody has a friend that over reacts and one who thinks things through. Since many of Shakespeare’s plays are tragedies Horatio’s dramatic character and bold predictions add to the dramatic plot that Shakespeare's Elizabethan audience pay to see while Marcellus’s character more so guides the reader through the storyline and contrast Horatio’s character.