The Hamlet Project

What’s he doing calling Horatio “you”?
Aren’t they friends? Shouldn’t they be thou-ing each other?
Thou-ing and thine-ing?
If they’re such good friends and Horatio has come
For the king’s funeral, then Horatio has been here a month.
A month gone by and this is the first time they’ve seen one another?
Is Hamlet suspicious of Horatio in just the way he is (rightfully) suspicious
of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? Are they not intimates?
Do they become so over the course of the show?
“I am glad to see you well” Also rings of formality.
It’s not, “You’re looking good.” Or “How the hell have you been you old badger?”
It might even be a standard princely response to “Hail.”
Or – what if there were a period after “you”?
I am glad to see you.
Well. . .
And suddenly, it’s awkward, because Hamlet can’t recall this guy’s name –
This Italian guy who he knows he knows from somewhere
But, boy, is he out of context –
“Oh, it’s school! I know his name. And he’s –
that graduate student in the philosophy department and look at me, forgetting that.
How embarrassing. I hope he didn’t notice. Let me make sure he knows I know him
after all. Ah, Horatio, my good friend, my fellow student, not a truant.”
I am glad to see you well.