Comments | verecunda: Hamlet, Horatio, and accents.

verecunda

Hamlet, Horatio, and accents.

Jan 26, 2011 00:53

So, I was talking with my dad about Macbeth tonight, and Dad was reminiscing about the time he was cast in a school production as the porter because he had the most working-class accent.

It suddenly occurred to me then that I've never, in any stage or screen adaptation of Hamlet, come across a Horatio with a working-class (or at least, not-very- ( Read more... )

horatio, hamlet, shakespeare, rambling

Comments 8

hoc_voluerunt January 26 2011, 02:21:25 UTC

Oh my god, that is so true. Dammit, now I desperately want to see a working-class!Horatio! That'd be awesome...

I suppose Horatio probably would pick up a posh accent from Wittenberg; or, if not that, from hanging around the bloody prince of Denmark for a bit too long ( ... )

verecunda January 26 2011, 03:34:02 UTC

It would, wouldn't it? :D Also, when I saw Antony and Cleopatra, Enobarbus had a fairly working-class accent (can't remember exactly what), but it was perfect in setting him apart from all the other aristocratic/royal/politician characters around him, and in underlining his down-to-earth, practical personality. The same could definitely apply to working-class!Horatio.

Ooh - I thought about the affectation angle, too! I mean, we know from his use of "you" vs. "thou" etc. that he's pretty class-conscious, so that could be a pretty interesting thing to try in a performance. Except that Horatio has never really struck me as someone who tried very hard to impress anyone. I think if he was, Hamlet wouldn't have taken to him, because he has nothing but contempt for toadies. (Possibly a reason he likes Horatio so much, because he'd be so different from the sort of people Hamlet would be used to at court ( ... )

hoc_voluerunt January 26 2011, 05:25:19 UTC

You're right about the impressing thing, I don't think Hamlet would very much approve. But I was thinking of Horatio putting on the accent more as a way of keeping notice off him - like a mask, of sorts, just to keep him a bit more incognito in a court in which he doesn't actually belong. He'd probably not put it on if he's only talking to, say, the guards or something.
Admittedly, the more I think about it, the more I'd prefer to see a Horatio who really is set aside because of his accent, because you're right - Hamlet would like him more because of how different he'd be from the rest of the court that the prince is used to ( ... )

verecunda January 26 2011, 11:05:57 UTC

Ah, yes. I don't know, though, if I see Horatio as the type who would shy away like that. He seems (to me) to be pretty confident with himself. (A good streak of working-class pride, maybe?) And I don't get the impression that he really spends time around many courtiers, apart from Hamlet. I mean, when he comes to Elsinore, he obviously doesn't seek out Hamlet there straight away, but apparently hangs out with the guards first. (Ooooh! Hey! Maybe Marcellus, Francisco and Barnardo are old army-buddies of his ( ... )

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