Yes the ghost only speaks to Hamlet. The others can see him but cannot hear him. When the ghost visits Hamlet in his mother's closet, his mother can neither see nor hear him.
Marcellus thinks that Horatio may know how to speak to a ghost because he is a University Man. I guess Marcellus assumes that's the kind of thing you learn at a University.
Hamlet and Horatio do not run into each other at the very beginning of the play; it Act I Scene 2 before they meet, and Hamlet already has one soliloquy under his belt. Nor does he talk at all about swearing until after he has seen and talked to the ghost, in Scene 5. Then he asks Horatio and Marcellus to swear "Never make known what you have seen tonight," and "Never to speak of this that you have seen," and "Never to speak of this that you have heard, " which are all pretty much the same thing. He also gets them to swear "never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd soe'er I bear myself . . . note that you know aught of me." This is a bit different. The first three oaths are "don't tell anyone about the ghost." but the fourth one is "If I start acting weird, don't let on that you know the reason why."
A definition of a monologue is "a prolonged talk or discourse by a single speaker, especially one dominating or monopolizing a conversation." I guess it would include soliloquys. The problem is, characters in Shakespeare often speak at length, dominating conversations. This includes minor characters talking about unimportant matters. Consider Act 1 Scene 1. About half-way through, Marcellus asks, "Why are we preparing for war?" which takes him ten lines. Horatio's answer takes about 27 lines. Bernardo has a short remark and Horatio is off again for another 27 lines, many addressed to the ghost. After the ghost leaves, Horatio has a nine-line comment, then Marcellus has an eight-line comment about some myth about roosters crowing at night at Christmas, then Horatio has another nine-line remark about it being dawn. If we were counting monologues, should we count all of these? The definition of a monologue is just too vague to be able to say with certainty that this speech is a monologue and that this other speech is not. As a result we cannot count them.
False. Lots of characters speak in prose when they are not saying something serious, or when they are upset or disturbed. Note Hamlet (a Prince) in his entire conversation with Osric and Horatio in Act 5 Scene 2. Or Lear (a King) when talking in his madness with the blind Gloucester in Act 4 Scene 6.
Act 1, scene 5 Ghost: "I find the apt; And duller shoulst thou be than the fat weed That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused; but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown." Hamlet: "O my prophetic soul! My uncle?" This is meaning that Claudius is the "serpent" who murdered King Hamlet. Ironic isn't it, Claudius is King Hamlet's brother.
Marcellus thinks that Horatio may know how to speak to a ghost because he is a University Man. I guess Marcellus assumes that's the kind of thing you learn at a University.
Marcellus and Barnardo assume that Horatio, being an educated man, will have studied Speaking to Ghosts 101 at Wittenberg University and will know how to talk to it.
"Never to speak of this that you have heard", by which he means the appearance of the ghost, although Horatio heard nothing from the ghost's lips. Also, "How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself . . .that you, at such times seeing me, never shall . . . note that you know aught of me." Horatio and Marcellus are not to suggest even that they have an idea why Hamlet is doing what he is doing.
Horatio
Horatio was brought to Elsinore by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, who appeared to him and two of his fellow soldiers while they were on watch. Horatio was called by the ghost to tell Prince Hamlet that the ghost was his father and that he had been murdered by his brother, Claudius. Horatio was then tasked with convincing Hamlet that the ghost was telling the truth. Once Horatio had told the prince what the ghost had said, he suggested that Hamlet should act as if he were insane in order to ensure his safety and to help him uncover the truth of his father's death. Horatio also advised Hamlet to feign madness and use it to his advantage to find out the truth about his father's death. He also suggested that Hamlet should not act too hastily as he could be putting himself in danger if he made the wrong choices.
He tells Horatio to "draw his breath in pain," to tell Hamlet's story.
He is a student. "Horatio, thou art a scholar. Speak to it!"
Do you mean, it's all a play so nothing in it is real? Because within the context of the story, the ghost is very real indeed. He is seen by a number of people including Horatio and Barnardo as well as by Hamlet. Hamlet is the only one who hears him speak, but what the ghost tells him is true, not a fiction created by Hamlet's brain. The ghost in Hamlet is as real as the ghost in any other ghost story, like A Christmas Carol, or The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
He is a scholar and so probably can speak Latin, although it is Hamlet who actually says a line in Latin ("Hic et ubique")
Hamlet and Horatio do not run into each other at the very beginning of the play; it Act I Scene 2 before they meet, and Hamlet already has one soliloquy under his belt. Nor does he talk at all about swearing until after he has seen and talked to the ghost, in Scene 5. Then he asks Horatio and Marcellus to swear "Never make known what you have seen tonight," and "Never to speak of this that you have seen," and "Never to speak of this that you have heard, " which are all pretty much the same thing. He also gets them to swear "never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd soe'er I bear myself . . . note that you know aught of me." This is a bit different. The first three oaths are "don't tell anyone about the ghost." but the fourth one is "If I start acting weird, don't let on that you know the reason why."
Only Hamlet hears it speak. Gertrude cannot see it, but Horatio and the guards can. Is it a real thing or is it a trick of the fog on the battlements, which Hamlet sees as the ghost and imagines speaking? Or maybe is it a bit of both?
In the exposition of Act 1 Scene 5 in Hamlet, two characters speak: the ghost of King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet. The ghost reveals the circumstances of his death to Hamlet, setting the tone for the rest of the play.