Francisco

Francisco is one of the Danish army Sentinels.

Francisco is on watch duty at the beginning of the play. He is relieved at midnight, actually soon after midnight, by Bernardo.

Francisco is apparently not of high rank, or he would not have been assigned to nighttime guard duty. However, he must be of high enough rank to be considered fully loyal and trustworthy, and able to carry out important assignments on his own. The sentinel duty is vital, as Denmark fears attack from Fortinbrasse's forces from Norway, an attack which could come at any time (that's why the watch is being kept.) In modern terms, it means Francisco has to be more than a private, but almost certainly less than a captain. He could be anything from a corporal to a lieutenant, with the rank of sergeant a fair bet. Francisco is called "honest soldier" by Marcellus, and our word "sergeant" comes from Middle English where it meant "common soldier." That's not conclusive, that Francisco is a sergeant, but it is suggestive. (The word "sergeant" does appear in the play, in the final Scene.) Further consideration of the sentinels' ranks, and other points, can be found on the Sentinels page.

The most important observation about Francisco, in relation to the play events, is that he does not know of the Ghost, and he has not been told of it. Those facts follow directly from the dialogue. Common sense provides solid support for those conclusions, as well. Francisco simply leaves, after Bernardo arrives. If Francisco knew of the Ghost, he would surely want to stay and see it again, along with the others. To think otherwise is to deny Francisco normal human curiosity, but the play is supposed to present natural persons, to the extent that goal can be achieved in a fictional composition like Hamlet. Shakespeare had Hamlet speak to that point directly, that a play performance should appear natural, when Hamlet talks to the Players before the 'Mousetrap Play.' To suppose Francisco knows of the Ghost, but just walks away from a chance to see it again, is to view him as a very unnatural fellow. Francisco's ignorance of the Ghost is a mark of how closely Bernardo and Marcellus have held the secret that they've seen it. Secrecy is a motif of the play, and it begins there, early in the first Scene.

In the First Quarto publication, 1603, the character corresponding to Francisco is given only the numeral 1 as a speech prefix. The name, Francisco, is not used. The reason is probably that the playing company for whom the First Quarto was printed intended to change the name, but had not yet decided on a replacement. See the First Quarto page, for more consideration of the name.

The name, Francisco, is not at all Danish. It can be seen as either Italianate, or Spanish. The name probably carried over from an older source play which contributed to Shakespeare's Hamlet, that earlier play being set in Italy. Shakespeare probably kept the name because researching correct Danish names was more trouble than it was worth, for a character who appeared only at first, briefly, and who was not particularly notable. Also, since Hamlet is a "mad" play, there's a kind of appropriateness for a Danish character to "madly" have a name associated with a different country, which leaves even less reason for Shakespeare to have changed it.

Significant lines spoken by Francisco:

• I am sick at heart - although a figurative statement of despondency, as Francisco says it, it's the first instance of the disease Motif.

• Not a mouse stirring - first instance of the mouse Motif.

• I think I hear them - first explicit mention of the Senses, a major Theme.

Themes and motifs most relevant to his character and dialogue:

disease, duty, mouse, Senses, stranger.

Although not explicit for Francisco in the dialogue, the application of duty to him is clear enough: sentinel duty is why he's there. As for the stranger motif, his job is to sound the alarm at the approach of hostile strangers, i.e. enemy forces, which is why he demands Bernardo answer to him.

Francisco appears in: Scene 1, only.