In
the opening scene of ,(along with Bernardo and Marcellus) witnesses an
apparition. The apparition looks like the recently-deceased King of Denmark: 's father. Bernardo
describes the apparition as "portentous," and Horatio says it is a "mote...to
trouble the mind's eye." This is a reference to the comment made by Jesus in the Bible that
one should attend to the "beam" in one's eye before pointing out the "mote"
in another's. Horatio is saying that, having seen this vision, it troubles him, just as a speck
of dirt in his eye would trouble him.
He goes on to explain why this is by
alluding to Rome and to "the mightiest Julius." Here, he is talking about the Roman
generalwho was stabbed to death by his friends. He says that before Caesar's death, a number of
strange portents were seen in Rome: there were various natural disasters, graves were empty and
the dead roamed the streetsand all of these were "harbingers" of doom. Horatio is
saying that these strange portents were intended to warn people that something terrible and
important was about to happenthat is, the murder of Julius Caesar. So, by comparing the
apparition of the ghost to these strange portents in Ancient Rome, Horatio is suggesting that
something equally strange and terrible might be about to happen in Denmark.
We can also draw a parallel between the murder of Caesar and the murder of the king in
Hamlet. Horatio is not simply suggesting that supernatural occurrences
might be an indication that strange and terrible things are afoot in a country: he is also
making a very specificwhich is pertinent to the overallof the play. Hamlet is convinced that ,
his uncle, was the cause of 's death. Regicide is an important theme in the play, and it
preoccupies Hamlet to the detriment of his mental health and sanity.
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