Hamlet X Horatio - Tumblr Posts

It's nonsensical, but hear me out:

a film entitled probably Horatio following the story of Horatio slowly falling into insanity after Hamlet's death. the story is hard to be placed in time, but probably happens around XIX century, with Hamlet having been some kind of aristocrat and Fortinbras - an heir to his fortune, thanks to some close yet unexplained ties to Claudius. no specific explanation as to why does it happen, it just happens.

the story opens with Horatio's voice from off reciting the beginning of Sheakespeare's Sonnet 18 (shall I compare thee to a summer day?) as we see Elsinore, a beautiful manor surrounded by clearings and trees, in the daylight. the main plot of the story is how Horatio tries to write his memories of Hamlet and their story together into a book. there is dozens of strange and seemingly unimportant scenes, which can turn extremely symbolical. for instance, there is a repeating motive of Horatio wearing a violet flower crown, Fortinbras keeps on building houses of cards etc.

least to say, Horatio is traumatized. he can't forget about what happened to his lover. it's mentioned and shown multiple times. there's a scene in which Fortinbras invites Horatio to have a fencing match and Horatio falls into panic as he takes the dagger. he drops it on the ground and cries out something like "i cannot fight with that", remembering Hamlet's ill-fated fight with Laetres. many times, Horatio repeats things Hamlet said to him, both these which we know from the play and these unknown. there is, for instance, much emphasis put on the story about how they confessed their love for each other, and how Horatio told Hamlet "i wish we could become one and never separate", or something similar.

almost as often as that, we see his flashback of many different moments he spent with Hamlet. these are both sweet, beautiful whiles and dark, foreboding moments. there's a long sequence with flashback about a situation back in Wittenberg: Hamlet plays some melody on violin and Horatio embraces him gently, and they both look at the sky. this melody later on appears in many important scenes, either as background music or a song sung by a character.

also, the story is being constantly interrupted by Horatio's dreams and hallucinations, in which he is placed in situations Hamlet was in: murder of Polonius, snapping at Ophelia, pretending to be insane. what's strange, in these sequences Fortinbras almost always takes place of Claudius. we see him as Claudius praying and Horatio - as Hamlet - leaning over him with a dagger, we see him as he pours the poison into the cup, we see him as he writes letter to king of England. Horatio, after almost all of these situations, just sits in place for some time, talking to the empty room, implying he sees a ghost (and, of course, adresses him as sweet lord), and then starting to hum the melody Hamlet played on violin.

at the end of the story, Horatio brings the finished book to Fortinbras and wants him to read it. Fortinbras reads a few pages, starts laughing and tells Horatio something like "i'm sorry, Horatio, but this book shouldn't ever see the daylight, for it is just wrong. no matter if Hamlet was insane or not, now he's dead and can't answer this question, so i'll speak in his favor: he was mad as a hatter and as such murdered his entire family, including Claudius, who was so desperate to help him. now, i'll do you a favour and burn this book myself" - as he rips out a few pages and throws them at Horatio's feet before turning around and leaving the room. Horatio picks up the pages, completly devastated with how his entire mission was failed. the ripped pages describe how Hamlet died in Horatio's arms. the moment when Hamlet told him to be there when he'll be gone. to be, because he cannot be anymore.

Horatio reads them and gets up at his feet. he takes a dagger into his hand, looks in the mirror and cuts off his ponytail, which resembles breaking who he used to be. we VERY briefly see the reflection of Hamlet and Horatio's face is not shown as he runs after Fortinbras. the scene glithes with the sequence of Hamlet approaching Claudius after learing about the poison. dramatic, yet beautiful version of the violin melody plays in the background whilst Horatio finally run to Fortinbras and tackles him from the behind.

Fortinbras realizes what is happening just in the last second, turns his head and calls out, shocked "lord H-?!" before his scream is cut shortly. we have a glimpse at Horatio's face and then we realize it's not Horatio anymore. his insanity has taken over. we can't even say if it's Horatio or Hamlet anymore: they're truly one, never separated. music completly silences Fortinbras screaming, camera moves away and we just watch a book which has fallen out of Fortinbras' hand and now is laying on the floor.

music stops eventually. there's a long silence. then, Horatio/Hamlet walks over, picks up the book from the ground, kisses its cover and hugs it to his breast. then, he puts the dagger into Fortinbras' hand, supposedly to make his death look like a suicide, and then walks out.

the story finishes with Horatio/Hamlet laying on a clearing full of violets, still holding that book in hand, and silently reciting the rest of the sonnet, as music silently starts to once again.

“Thine evermore” (future-tense)

to “Lord, we know who we are, but not who we may be!” (The future is unknown)

to “he that thou knowest thine” (present-tense)

Because you don’t know what the future will look like, but you’re in love now.

Thinking abt that essay that was written in 1881 by Edward Vining that proposed a romantic relationship between Hamlet and Horatio and it was okay bc “hamlet was a girl raised to be a boy bc Politics”

and a MOVIE was made for it

Imagine this:

I plan and write a remarkable speech and submit it to TEDTalk. They accept. I even make a slideshow to go along with this inspirational presentation. The audience is excited as fuck. What will I say? This took years of preparation. There are cameras everywhere. It’s streaming live! I clear my throat to speak. The audience is on the edge of their seats. I pause for dramatic effect. At last I speak, and I say:

“Hamlet was head-over-heels in love with Horatio.”

I bow. I make my exit.

I will not be invited back, but it was worth it.

Horatio: So... can I ask about the skull in your room?

Hamlet: Sure, which one?

Horatio: Hamlet and I were walking down the street and this guy honked at us.

Ophelia: And what did he do this time?

Horatio: He chased him to the next red light, reached into their car window and...

Hamlet: Who wants a steering wheel?

Horatio: How do you cope? Hamlet: Well, I started off by writing dark poetry, and then worked my way up to hand-sewing perfect doll replicas of my tormentors, then placing each doll in a pentagramic circle before stabbing out their eyes in a ritualized fire ceremony. Ophelia: Wow, Hamlet. That’s kinda fucked up. Hamlet: It gets worse.

Hamlet: It was either this or med school. Horatio: You never told me you wanted to be a doctor. What were you gonna specialize in? Hamlet: Abortion.

“’I will wear him in my heart’s core’: Tragedy, Community, and Queer Identity in HAMLET Online” A post mortem on my first ever academic conference presentation At the beginning of this month I had the absolute privilege to present some of my current research at the Utah Wooden O Symposium at Southern Utah University. My biggest belief is that research, the arts, and education should be as widely accessible as possible. This is why today, I am sharing the highlights of my survey results, research you all helped contribute to! These are not all the answers or data, but some of the most fun bits I’ve used so far. This survey will be used for future projects (by me only) as well! In addition, I will be filming and presenting a series of TikToks and a longer video essay on Youtube with an alternative reading and presentation of my research. If that’s not enough Hamlet research for you, I will also (hopefully!!!) be publishing this research in 1-2 journals. Until then, I wanted to give you the tumblr community the data on your Hamlet thoughts. If you like this research, content, or want to participate in future research please either reach out to me or… watch this space! I’ll be developing my thesis work in similar ways and I’ve got a Ph.D. after this to research for… hopefully! Thank you all again, I hope to provide more accessible education for everyone. For now, please enjoy just how gay we all are. Disclaimer: Graphs auto displayed the top 5-10 answers, the full numbers and percentages I do have but graphs do not reflect all genders and sexualities provided. Future and previous presentations of this data will reflect all genders and sexualities provided. ALT TEXT is Below

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yeah Hammy boi would tho

Meanwhile Ophelia: wtf.

Horatio: So, my lord, what’s your favorite color?

Hamlet, in the middle of bi panic: Blue? No, green!

Horatio: Awesome! I love learning about you!

Hamlet, to Ophelia one minute later: I FUCKED UP. ITS YELLOW.

Well damn, even tumblr's now looking down on me for my hamratio rabbit hole descent.

Me desperately trying to hold onto my love for literature:

Shakespeare had the audacity to include so much swordplay in his plays cough, Romeo and Juliet cough and kill off half the gay characters. He just had to make it a tragedy, as if we didn't already have Hamlet to deal with.