Horatio and the Queen

    There is an unfortunate double casting that many productions of Hamlet indulge in that robs the play of an interesting character insight for both Gertrude and Horatio.  In act 4 scene 5 a "Gentleman" appears to tell the Queen of Ophelia's desire to speak with her, setting up the scene in which Ophelia is revealed to the audience to have been driven mad by Hamlet's slaying of her father.  In most productions this news is delivered to the Queen through Hamlet's friend Horatio, left behind when Hamlet was exiled to England.  This all makes sense; Horatio makes himself useful and enters the Queen's presence with a suit, and we think no more of it.  Give the lines to the Gentleman however, and the scene changes.  Now we have the Queen and Horatio together being approached by a third party.  Why are these two together?  Horatio has but one more line in this scene and is sent by the King to follow Ophelia at its end, so what purpose is there to show us that Horatio is with the Queen?

     The answer most productions give, either from expedience or necessity, is none.  Horatio is given the messenger's purpose and robbed of his own.  But there is another possible answer.  If we look at this scene in its place in the Queen's character arc it appears to point to her conversion to Hamlet's camp.  When we last saw Gertrude Hamlet was attempting to convince her of the error of her ways, with varying levels of success.  The text is ambiguous at best and leaves much up to the actors as to whether or not she is convinced.  The next time we see her is in the final scene of the play where she drinks the poison meant for Hamlet.  Again, the actor has freedom of choice as to whether or not Gertrude is aware of what she is doing.  Both scenes allow great flexibility for her character arc.  In the middle we have this scene, where for some reason or other Gertrude is shown with the only other person that we know to be squarely in Hamlet's camp.  Time has passed, Hamlet has been exiled, and this scene begins  with Hamlet's one true friend and his mother who at this point in the play may have come over to her son's side in the great struggle of the play.  This pairing lends strength to the suggestion that she has been converted, that in the time since Hamlet's exile a small camp of supporters has arisen.  Where once  there was one, now there are two.