ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hamlet’s central characters are Hamlet himself, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Horatio. But only Horatio survives when the curtain falls at the end of Shakespeare’s play.

Detailed explanation-2: -At the end of the play, when Hamlet is killed in his fight with Laertes, Horatio, in his grief, offers to kill himself with his own sword.

Detailed explanation-3: -Horatio is a variation of the Latin Horatius. Many commentators have linked the name to the Latin words ratiō ("reason") and ōrātor ("speaker"), noting his role as a reasoner with Prince Hamlet, and surviving (even though he begged for death) to tell Hamlet’s heroic tale at the end of the play.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hamlet tells Horatio again that he is dying, and urges his friend not to commit suicide in light of all the tragedies, but instead to stay alive and tell his story. He says that he wishes Fortinbras to be made King of Denmark; then he dies.

Detailed explanation-5: -Hamlet tells horatio to let his story live because he knows that he is about to die and his story is one that can be related to. I believe Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story because he wants people to know the real story. He wants a legacy of him especially to be left behind, and he doesn’t want to be forgotten.