Status Point of Interest! The sailors use “You” to address Horatio but he uses “Thee” to address them. Does this suggest that Horatio is some kind of recognizable gentleman? And are sailors just automatically people you talk down to?
Horatio is a little bit mysterious in his way. We don’t know much about him. We know he’s someone (not from Denmark) who Hamlet trusts. He’s also someone the guards at the top of the play trust. But beyond that, we have only a handful of facts.
So, WEIRDLY, this little bit of information about how sailors talk to him and he talks to sailors manages to reveal a tiny bit more.
The Hamlet Project 