As a character, Horatio is presented to us as utterly dependable, well educated, stoical, dispassionate and devout. Of all the major characters, he alone remains uncontaminated by the corruption in Elsinore, and Hamlet's election of him as the person to tell his story is thoroughly appropriate.

Horatio is the man Hamlet wants to be. He is intelligent, but not driven by his intellectual creativity. Horatio seems to accept the world as it is handed to him where Hamlet is driven by his impulse question all apparent truths.

Horatio is Hamlet’s friend and serves as Hamlet’s confidante throughout the play. Unlike Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and even Ophelia, Horatio is the one person who never betrays Hamlet. His loyalty is so strong that he even intends to take his own life so that he does not have to live without Hamlet.

Indeed, throughout the drama Horatio is characterized by a certain sober-mindedness and always seems to act carefully and deliberately, unlike Hamlet, who acts more and more impulsive and hot-headed in the drama.