Ben Gerdes
Harbingery at it’s Best
“As harbingers preceding still the fates,” notes Horatio atop the battlements of Elsinore in the play’s opening act (1.1 126). Horatio’s reference with this quote and the one he makes in his following line seem to embody a meaning that is applicable to the scene and the play as a whole, foreshadowing the immediate arrival of the ghost as well as the message the ghost delivers to his son four scenes later. Amongst the multiple meanings of the word harbinger is the literary definition, in which the word refers to, “one that goes before and announces the approach of someone; a forerunner,” (OED 2nd Ed.). This is seen by many scholars as the appropriate definition of the word in this context and is even noted as such in David Bevington’s edits (Complete Works of Shakespeare, 5th Ed.). However, if we take this to be the common meaning of the word then we subject ourselves to the vast multitude of interpretations of Horatio’s line. A simpler route would be to take the word’s most common meaning as, “one who provides lodging; an entertainer, a host,” (OED 2nd Ed.). In this light Horatio’s line would imply that the ghost himself is “the fates” while Horatio and the sentinels play host to midnight wanderings and omens.
However, the literary definition carries weight when considering the word’s ability to foreshadow events in the immediate and distant future. Seen as a forerunner, harbinger then refers to Horatio’s meeting with the ghost as foreshadowing Hamlet’s meeting with his father at the end of Act I. In this sense, we are able to view “the fates” as those that are decided upon when Hamlet finally hears the truth about his Father’s death. Viewed in congruence with the following line, “prologue to the omen coming on,” it is certainly applicable to suggest that the omen Hamlet hears from his father spurs his course of action and thus his fate (1.1 127).