Bernardo
Bernardo is the first voice of the play and the first witness to the Ghost — the man whose testimony starts the chain of disclosure that leads to Hamlet's encounter with his father's spirit. He functions as the common soldier's experience of the supernatural before any higher authority can interpret or rationalize it.
Appears In
Biography
Bernardo is a sentinel at Elsinore — the first speaking character in the play, beginning Hamlet with a challenge into darkness: 'Who's there?' The question is more resonant than it looks. It sets up a play that will spend five acts asking exactly that question of its central character.
It is Bernardo who was on watch when the Ghost first appeared, and whose report to Marcellus prompted the decision to bring Horatio to witness the next appearance. In Act I Scene 1, he takes the lead in narrating the Ghost's previous apparition to Horatio — describing the armour, the manner of walking, the solemn march — and his account is specific enough to be convincing even before the Ghost appears to confirm it.
Like Marcellus, Bernardo vanishes from the play after Act I. He has served his function: he is the man who saw the Ghost first, who told Marcellus, whose testimony begins the chain of knowledge that eventually reaches Hamlet. His significance is entirely in that first act, and his simple opening challenge — 'Who's there?' — remains one of the most productively ambiguous openings in dramatic literature.
Motivation
Bernardo is motivated by straightforward duty — he was on watch, he saw something extraordinary, and he reported it to his superior. His actions are those of a conscientious soldier doing his job in circumstances that exceed his job description.
Personality
Bernardo is not a complicated figure, which is part of his value to the play. He is a soldier who saw something and described it accurately, and whose plain testimony carries a credibility that more elaborate witnesses might not. His opening challenge into darkness — 'Who's there?' — is the plainest possible version of the question the whole play asks.