Open Prompt Practice (Dec. 9)

1992. In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. You may write your essay on one of the following novels or plays or on another of comparable quality. Do not write on a poem or short story.

Since the beginning of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Horatio was Hamlet's loyal companion. The two had gone to school in Wittenberg together, becoming close friends, able to share even the most confidential of secrets. All throughout the play, even in the strangest situations, Horatio kept the secret of Hamlet's alleged madness and acted as his confidant when no one was around. He was the outsider, the only one left untainted by the deception that prevailed in the castle Elsinore.

Everyone trusted Horatio. At the start of the play, he was the first person the guards went to for advice about the ghost they had seen, even before Hamlet was notified. Being a scholar of philosophy, he was well respected by all. He acted not only as Hamlet's counselor and companion, but also as an adviser to the queen about Ophelia and even as Ophelia's caretaker. Even Fortinbras, without ever once meeting Horatio in the past, chose to speak with him rather than with any one of the nobles in the room when he arrived. Horatio was the voice of truth, telling things as they were and not as was most convenient for himself.

Time elapsed: 45 minutes