#Horatio and Hamlet is a little more convincing than Mercutio and Romeo

[noshitshakespeare]

This has most likely already been asked, so I am sorry, but I could not find it, hence the question. I have recently seen a representation of Hamlet in which Hamlet and Horatio were given a very strong, basically romantic bond. So I was left wondering if that was just the actors' going wild or if that relationship could be read as somewhat romantic from a scholarly point of view as well. (( thanks so much, love your blog ))

Hi, thanks for the question! And thanks for checking past asks first. I haven’t actually been asked much about Hamlet and Horatio.

Scholarly opinion is not unified (on anything really), and can also include what’s called ‘queer reading’ which is the act of going against the text or deliberately reading against the grain in a deconstructionist manner in order to challenge existing conceptions. In those studies, there will be a queer subtext to almost any text. But if you don’t take much out of context, there’s not much overt suggestion that Hamlet and Horatio have a romantic bond in Hamlet. Shakespeare is capable of making male attraction quite visible (nowhere more than in the sonnets), and there’s nothing in Hamlet akin to lines like Antonio’s ‘I do love thee so / That danger shall seem sport’ (2.1.42-3) or ‘My desire / More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth’ (3.2.4-5) in Twelfth Night. 

Stil, it is true that Horatio becomes the one person Hamlet can trust and rely on in the play. The best indication we can get of Hamlet’s feelings for Horatio come in that long speech in Act 3, scene 2, in which he praises Horatio’s stoic virtues: ‘as one suffering all that suffers nothing -- / A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards / Hath ta’en with equal thanks’ (3.2.63-64) and so on. As Hamlet himself says, there’s no reason for him to flatter Horatio ‘For what advancement may I hope from thee / That no revenue hast but thy good spirits / To feed and clothe thee?’ (3.2.53-55). In other words, Prince Hamlet has nothing to gain from flattering the lower-ranking and much poorer Horatio. So Hamlet’s trust in and admiration of Horatio is genuine, and he wants Horatio to know. As he continues his praise of Horatio, Hamlet says that 

Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice And could of men distinguish her election Sh’ath sealed thee for herself’ (3.2.59-61)

Now the fact that Hamlet refers to his soul as feminine is quite intriguing (I’ve discussed it briefly before in this post). In the most obvious sense, Hamlet is saying that since he became old enough to make judgments by himself, he’s known Horatio is a trustworthy companion. This suggests that Horatio and Hamlet have been friends at least as long as Hamlet has been of age. But the image of the seal refers to the practice of putting a legal seal on something as a sign of ownership. So Hamlet’s as good as saying that Horatio belongs to his (female) soul. There’s something like a union or even marriage of souls in the image that could be taken romantically, as if Hamlet is conjuring a female part of himself which can unite with Horatio. He goes on to say that he wears Horatio ‘In my heart’s core -- ay, in my heart of heart’ (3.2.68-69), a real sign of trust and feeling. But images of marriage and souls need not signify a sexual or romantic attraction. As I’ve pointed out before, early modern same-sex relationships could be a lot more intimate without being considered homosexual. These sorts of changes show that conventions of what people find romantic or sexual are historically and culturally inflected to the extreme. 

What Horatio thinks of Hamlet is less clear. He’s evidently loyal to Hamlet and calls him ‘my dear lord’ (3.2.52), not just ‘my lord. But he’s never anything less than polite and hierarchically correct towards Hamlet while he lives, a point I covered this in this little post about pronoun use in Hamlet. The most emotional Horatio becomes is at the end: ‘Goodnight, sweet Prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest’ (5.2.343-45) -- the one time he uses the second-person pronoun. And of course, Horatio is willing to commit suicide by drinking off the rest of the poisoned chalice, considering suicide honourable rather than damning. Why he would want to do so is less obvious. Presumably, he wants to be with Hamlet even in death, but that could come out of love or loyalty (or both), and once again, need not be the lover’s suicide of Romeo and Juliet. He abstains from drinking the poison only after Hamlet asks him 

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart Absent thee from felicity awhile And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain To tell my story (5.2.330-333)

So you could say that Horatio both wants to die for Hamlet, and chooses to live for Hamlet. It’s an intense choice that could be read, once again, as dedication, friendship, or romantic, but in all cases, it is a kind of love.

This is all quite subtle, but it gives some basis for an interpretation in which Hamlet and Horatio have a romantic bond, especially as their closest moments come after Ophelia rejects Hamlet and gives him back his gifts. But Hamlet does continue to jest sexually with Ophelia during The Murder of Gonzago, and is quite upfront about the fact that he ‘loved Ophelia’ (5.1.258) at her funeral. I’m not saying that one can’t have two romantic interests at once. Still, it’s difficult not to impinge on the pathos of Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia if he also has a liaison with Horatio. I wonder, too, whether one needs to make a relationship erotic or romantic in order for it to be significant. I think that Horatio and Hamlet do love each other, but, while I don’t have anything against the interpretation, I don’t see that they have to be in love just because they love. Both interpretations could be beneficial: a romantic bond between Horatio and Hamlet normalises gay attachments, and a close friendship between them normalises intimate male relationships.

So, to answer your question: there’s a little textual basis for reading a romantic connection between Hamlet and Horatio into the play if one wanted to. I’m sure it could add something interesting if done well, but the relationship needn’t be romantic to be powerful.