Question

4054va v. english 12 sem a- a
hamlet, part 1: an introduction to elizabethan theater

in the dead vast and middle of the night,
been thus encounterd a figure like your father.
armed at points exactly, cap-a-pe,
appears before them, and with solemn march (210)
goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walkd
by their oppressd and fear-surprised eyes,
within his truncheons length; whilst they, distilld
almost to jelly with the act of fear,
stand dumb and speak not to him. this to me (215)
in dreadful secrecy impart they did,
and i with them the third night kept the watch;
where, as they had deliverd, both in time,
form of the thing, each word made true and good,
the apparition comes. i knew your father, (220)
these hands are not more like.

?
according to horatio, how did he learn about the ghost?
he works as a watchman
and saw the ghost several
nights in a row.
first the guards told him
about it, and then he saw it
himself.
he read about the ghost
when he was at school in
wittenberg.
king claudius told him
about the ghost.

Explanation:

From the text, Horatio says the guards (or others) imparted the information about the ghost to him in "dreadful secrecy", and then he kept watch with them and saw the apparition himself (e.g., "And I with them the third night kept the watch... The apparition comes"). The other options are incorrect: he isn't a watchman (first option), there's no mention of reading about it at school (third), and Claudius didn't tell him (fourth).

Answer:

B. First the guards told him about it, and then he saw it himself.