HAMLET                     For thou hast been

As one in suffering all that suffers nothing –

A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards

Hast ta’en with equal thanks. And blest are those

Whose blood and judgement are so well co-meddled

That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger

To sound what stop she please. Give me that man

That is not passion’s slave and I will wear him

In my heart’s core – ay, in my heart of heart –

As I do thee.   (3.2.61-70)

Hamlet’s describing Horatio, but he’s also describing the kind of man he’s not, that in some respects he wishes he could be. For thou hast been as one in suffering all that suffers nothing. You haven’t had it easy, but you just take life as it comes. You are a man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards hast ta’en with equal thanks: whether it’s good or bad, whatever life throws at you, you receive it with total equanimity. You’re so STOIC! (How Horatio reacts to all this is interesting, a little mock bow, or trying to shush, embarrassed?) You don’t let things get to you. It’s not just that you’re stoic: and blest are those whose blood and judgement are so well co-meddled that they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger to sound what stop she please. You’re temperate too, you have such self-control, the perfect balance between passion and reason; you don’t allow yourself to get thrown off course. You’re not passive, the plaything of fate; you always have agency, because you have that self-control. You don’t dance to anyone else’s tune. Oh, give me that man that is not passion’s slave—that’s not at the mercy of his emotions, his irrational impulses—and I will wear him in my heart’s core—ay, in my heart of heart—as I do thee. I love that man; I wish I could be that man. In the meantime, I have you, Horatio, my other self—my better self.