First, thanks to Aslan for your help with my previous questions.
When Horatio states his views on the appearance of Hamlet's Ghost (that it portends ill for Denmark), is the audience meant to believe him?
Hey, no problems. I really enjoy writing about Hamlet. I think that Horatio is presented as a pretty reliable character. He is probably the most reliable character in the play. He doesn't seem to have all the emotional baggage, drama and closet skeletons which seem to plague the other characters. So when Horatio finally sees the Ghost he says,
“In what particular thought to work I know not,
But in the gross and scope of mine opinion
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.”
The audience is meant to believe him. Keep in mind that the Elizabethans were into ghosts, witches, heaven, hell, purgatory....They really believed in this stuff. Horatio is also learned (went to university) and the guards seem pretty eager to get Horatio's confirmation.
