Who is Horatio in Hamlet?

Horatio is Hamlet’s closest friend and most trusted confidant. He is a nobleman and a scholar, originally skeptical when the guards report seeing the ghost of the dead King Hamlet on Elsinore’s ramparts.

Horatio helps confirm that the ghost is real. Marcellus brings him to watch with the guards because Horatio is educated, and when Horatio sees the apparition, he is shaken and realizes that its appearance signals danger for Denmark. He then decides that Hamlet must be told, because the ghost may speak to its son.

Throughout the play, Horatio is the person Hamlet trusts most. Hamlet relies on him during the play staged to test Claudius’s guilt, asking Horatio to watch the king’s reaction. Later, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped the voyage to England and how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sent to their deaths instead. Horatio also warns Hamlet against the duel with Laertes, sensing that something is wrong.

At the end of Hamlet, Horatio’s loyalty becomes especially clear. When Hamlet is dying, Horatio considers drinking from the poisoned cup too, but Hamlet stops him and asks him to live on and tell the truth about what happened. After Hamlet dies, Horatio says goodbye with “Good night, sweet prince.” Horatio survives as the witness to Denmark’s collapse and the keeper of Hamlet’s story.