The Real Horatio in Hamlet Horatio's role in Hamlet is minor, yet he serves two central purposes in the play. Horace provides the truth. It is through Horatio that the actions taken by Hamlet and the other characters gain credibility. He is the external observer of madness. Hamlet could soliloquize endlessly, but it is his conversations with Horatio that ground the play in reality. Horatio believes Hamlet and therefore we are allowed to believe. He sees the Ghost and therefore we can believe that Hamlet saw the Ghost. If Horatio were not present, Hamlet's sanity would truly be questioned. Horatio's second goal is to be Hamlet's only true confidant. Aside from Hamlet's soliloquies, his conversations with Horatio are the only insight we have into what the prince really thinks and feels. But the reason why Hamlet chooses Horatio to become the only person he can count on is of primary importance here. From the first scene we see that Horatio is calm, resolute and rational. Not afraid to face the Ghost, Horatio asks him to speak if he knows what future awaits Denmark or if he has come to make a confession: If you know the fate of your country... Oh, speak! your life Treasure extorted in the womb of the earth...Speak, stay and speak! (Ii133-9)Hamlet admires Horatio for qualities that Hamlet himself does not possess. He praises Horatio for his virtue and self-control: “Horatio, you are quite a man / As ever my conversation hath addressed” (III.ii.56-7). Horatio's strength of character is unshakable, and Hamlet longs for the peace of mind that such stoicism must bring to Horatio: Have you heard? Since my dear soul was master of its choice, and could distinguish its election among men, it sealed you to itself, because you were like one who, suffering everything, suffers nothing, a man who buffets and fortune's rewards you have taken with equal gratitude: and blessed are they whose blood and judgment are so well mixed that they are not a flute for fortune's finger plays what stop, please. Give me that man who is not a slave to passion, and I will wear him deep in my heart, yes, deep in my heart, as I do with you. (III.ii.65-70) Horatio has thus reached a pinnacle that Hamlet recognizes as freedom from emotional upheaval.