Is Horatio on guard duty?

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Is Horatio on guard duty in scene one, or is he hanging about the castle and, knowing that he is a "scholar" and a friend of Hamlet's, Marcellus and Bernado bring him along to watch with them. I mean, I would have said the latter for sure, but some fellow, in one of his answers here, suggested otherwise.

-- Patrick Walker (criesandwhispers666@yahoo.com), April 08, 2003

Answers

I think it's the latter. Apart from everything Marcellus and Bernardo say which suggest this, as we learn in I.ii, Horatio has only come from Wittenberg to Elsinore to see Hamlet's father's funeral. He is not likely to have joined the strength of the castle guard or a regular army just for the duration of his stay. What made you think it might be otherwise?

-- catherine england (catherine_england@hotmail.com), April 08, 2003.

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