The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1308  Friday, 23 July 1999.

[1]     From:   Sean Lawrence <
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        Date:   Thursday, 22 Jul 1999 10:13:44 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1292 Re: Horatio

[2]     From:   Sean Lawrence <
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        Date:   Thursday, 22 Jul 1999 10:44:36 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1288 Re: Horatio

[3]     From:   Clifford Stetner <
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        Date:   Friday, 23 Jul 1999 02:41:14 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1292 Re: Horatio

[4]     From:   Meg Powers Livingston <
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        Date:   Friday, 23 Jul 1999 00:11:24 -0700
        Subj:   Re: Horatio

[5]     From:   Ed Friedlander <
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        Date:   Friday, 23 Jul 1999 02:43:29 CST
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1292 Re: Horatio


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Sean Lawrence <
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Date:           Thursday, 22 Jul 1999 10:13:44 +0000
Subject: 10.1292 Re: Horatio
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.1292 Re: Horatio

> I confess I  am not yet convinced enough about Horatio as a name coming
> from "ratio". It is true that Horatio is thought by Hamlet as a scholar
> of philosophy and  a kind of  Stoic, but his role in the play seems
> rather that of a friend, who, rather than showing a more clear reasoning
> than Hamlet's , listens to and sympathizes with him.

Could the idea of "ratio" here not refer to "reason" in the
abstract-"clear reasoning," as you say-but to the incipient "age of
reason"?  Is Horatio's way of thinking characteristic of the
enlightenment?  After all, he seems to avoid the dark, half-medieval,
half-existential anxieties of Hamlet, refusing to consider the fate of
Alexander's body, for instance, and cynical (initially) about the
existence of the ghost.

By the way, I like your idea of Horatio as the orator, who tells
Hamlet's story.  His telling the story seems to support those (like
Cicero, I believe) who held oration to be the basis of states, since his
tale implicitly aids Fortinbras in taking over and assuring domestic
tranquility.

Cheers,
Se