dissecting hamlet lines because i can and we all know it was a gayass show but it was actually gayer than you think. also we did this show at my school and i'm missing it so here we go
"i am more an antique roman than a dane," (omg its the one in my bio!)
the context is it is said by horatio to hamlet in the last act/scene of the play as hamlet dies, queen gertrude was poisoned and as horatio and hamlet talk for the last time, horatio points out how there is still some poison left and insinuates he wants to drink it. the line is said here and hamlet tells him no and stops him by drinking the poison himself since he is already dying
the conversation they have essentially is horatio saying, "i can't live without you, i'll kill myself to be with you in death" and hamlet going, "no, if you kill yourself, you won't go to heaven because killing yourself is such a selfish act" then horatio says "i am more an antique roman than a dane" (plus a whole monologue but this is the important bit)
basically, at this time denmark (where hamlet takes place) is super catholic and the church (and by association, hamlet) thinks (like i said before) that killing yourself is such a selfish act you will go to hell for it. so by horatio saying "than a dane" he is saying he doesn't believe that and doesn't want to listen to hamlet
the "antique roman" part is special too because the romans were/are famous for being soo gay and very ok with same sex relationships so horatio in this part is saying "i'm already gay/in love with you [hamlet] so i'm already going to hell anyway"
to sum it up, the entire quote simplified and paraphrased is: i don't care if i go to hell for killing myself to be with you, i don't believe that, i love you
that being said, he ends up not killing himself because hamlet kinda guilts him into living by saying "tell my story" and "don't let me die in vain" etc etc but my point stands


















