the last thing i’ll say about my literature teacher—
on the day we finished hamlet, we as a class talked a lot about horatio; why he lived, his reaction to hamlet’s death, his purpose, et. to close that conversation thread she said something like: “he lived because he was the only character who didn’t betray anyone. that’s because he didn’t want anything from hamlet. everyone else expected things from hamlet that he wasn’t capable of giving them. horatio just wanted to support his friend. that’s why shakespeare didn’t kill him.” and five years later i don’t know how much i agree with that, but i do know it affected how i approach classical tragedies to this day. she was the first person in my life who called attention to the fact that tragedies aren’t loveless stories. they’re kind of overflowing with it.
Jeanette Winterson, Andrew Scott, Jamie Anderson
