Question

part 7: plot and character
the tragedy of hamlet, prince of denmark
act iv. scene v.
elsinore. a room in the castle.
enter gertrude, horatio, and a gentleman.
gertrude: i will not speak with her.
gentleman: she is importunate, indeed distract:
her mood will needs be pitied. (5)
gertrude: what would she have?
gentleman: she speaks much of her father; says she hears
there’s tricks i’ the world; and hems, and beats her heart;
spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
that carry but half sense: her speech is nothing, (10)
yet the unshaped use of it doth move
the hearers to collection; they aim at it,
and botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;
which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them,
indeed would make one think there might be thought, (15)
though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
horatio: ’twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
in act iv of hamlet, why does shakespeare include the plot event in which
horatio reads and reacts to hamlet’s letter about an encounter with pirates?
to establish horatio’s cunning motives
to establish hamlet’s humility in defeat
to establish horatio’s steadfast loyalty to hamlet
to establish hamlet’s preoccupation with revenge

Explanation:

Horatio's reaction to Hamlet's letter shows his concern and commitment to Hamlet. The other options are incorrect: Horatio is loyal, not cunning; the letter doesn't show Hamlet's defeat - related humility; and the event focuses on Horatio's response, not Hamlet's revenge preoccupation.

Answer:

to establish Horatio's steadfast loyalty to Hamlet