A room in Polonius’s house · Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius
Laertes, leaving for France, warns his sister Ophelia that Hamlet's affection is a passing fancy and that a prince cannot choose his own wife anyway. Polonius arrives, loads Laertes with a string of maxims ending in "to thine own self be true," and then interrogates Ophelia about Hamlet, dismissing his vows as traps and forbidding her to speak to him again. Ophelia obeys — the order that will help push both her and Hamlet toward disaster.
Enter Laertes and Ophelia.
Laertes
My necessaries are embark’d.
My luggage is on board.
Farewell.
Goodbye.
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
And sister — whenever the winds are favorable and there's a ship going, don't be lazy; write to me.
Ophelia
Do you doubt that?
Do you doubt I will?
Laertes
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood;
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting;
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
As for Hamlet and his flirting with you, treat it as a passing fashion, a bit of hot blood — a violet blooming in the first flush of spring, early but not lasting, sweet but not durable, the fragrance and amusement of a single minute.
No more.
Nothing more.
Ophelia
No more but so?
Nothing more than that?
Laertes
Think it no more.
Take it as nothing more.
For nature crescent does not grow alone
In thews and bulk; but as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal.
When a person grows, it isn't only the muscles and frame that get bigger; as the body's temple expands, the mind and soul inside it expand too.
Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will;
Perhaps he loves you now, and perhaps right now no dishonesty or trickery taints his intentions.
but you must fear,
His greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own;
But you have to be afraid: given his rank, his will isn't his own.
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He's a prisoner of his own birth.
He may not, as unvalu’d persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The sanctity and health of this whole state;
He can't help himself to whatever he wants the way ordinary people can, because the safety and health of this whole country depend on his choice.
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib’d
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head.
So his choice has to be limited by the consent of the nation he's the head of.
Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed;
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
If he says he loves you, you're wise to believe it only so far as he, in his particular position, can actually act on what he says — which is no further than the general will of Denmark permits.
which is no further
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster’d importunity.
So consider what damage your reputation might take if you listen too trustingly to his songs, or lose your heart, or open the treasure of your chastity to his uncontrolled pressure.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
Be afraid of it, Ophelia, be afraid, my dear sister.
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
Stay behind your own feelings, out of range of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
The most careful girl in the world is being reckless if she so much as lets the moon see her beauty.
Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes:
Even virtue can't dodge slander.
The canker galls the infants of the spring
Too oft before their buttons be disclos’d,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
The worm eats the buds of spring too often before they've opened, and in the morning dew of youth, blighting infections are always closest.
Be wary then,
So be careful.
best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Fear is your best protection — young people rebel against themselves even with no one else around.
Ophelia
I shall th’effect of this good lesson keep
As watchman to my heart.
I'll keep the point of this good sermon as a guard over my heart.
But good my brother,
Do not as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst like a puff’d and reckless libertine
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
But, my dear brother, don't be like those hypocrite preachers who point out the steep, thorny road to heaven while they themselves stroll down the flowery path of pleasure, swollen and reckless, and pay no attention to their own advice.
Laertes
O, fear me not.
Oh, don't worry about me.
I stay too long.
I'm staying too long.
But here my father comes.
But here comes my father.
Enter Polonius.
Laertes
A double blessing is a double grace;
Two blessings are twice the good luck.
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Chance is smiling on me, giving me a second goodbye.
Polonius
Yet here, Laertes?
Still here, Laertes?
Aboard, aboard, for shame.
Get aboard, get aboard, for shame.
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for.
The wind's filling your sail and they're waiting for you.
There, my blessing with you.
There — my blessing on you.
Laying his hand on Laertes’s head.
Polonius
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character.
And make sure you write these few rules in your memory.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Don't say everything you think, and don't act on any half-formed thought.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Be friendly, but never cheap.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
Once you've got friends and tested that they're worth keeping, clamp them to your soul with steel bands
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade.
— but don't wear out your hand shaking hands with every unfledged acquaintance you meet.
Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel;
Be careful about getting into a fight,
but being in,
Bear’t that th’opposed may beware of thee.
but once you're in it, handle it so that your opponent is careful of you.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Listen to everyone, speak to few.
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Take everyone's opinion, but keep your own judgment to yourself.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Dress as expensively as your money allows, but not showily — rich, not gaudy, because clothes often announce the man, and the French of the best rank and position have very refined and generous taste in exactly that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
Don't borrow and don't lend: lending often loses you the money and the friend as well, and borrowing blunts your habits of thrift.
This above all: to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Above all this: be true to your own self, and it will follow as surely as night follows day that you can't then be false to anyone else.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee.
Goodbye — may my blessing help this take root in you.
Laertes
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
I take my leave most humbly, my lord.
Polonius
The time invites you;
Time's calling you.
go, your servants tend.
Go — your servants are waiting.
Laertes
Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well
What I have said to you.
Goodbye, Ophelia, and remember carefully what I've said to you.
Ophelia
’Tis in my memory lock’d,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
It's locked up in my memory, and you'll keep the key to it yourself.
Laertes
Farewell.
Goodbye.
Exit.
Polonius
What is’t, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
What is it he's said to you, Ophelia?
Ophelia
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
If you don't mind, something concerning Lord Hamlet.
Polonius
Marry, well bethought:
Well, that's a good reminder.
’Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous.
I'm told he's very often been spending private time with you lately, and that you yourself have been generous and free about receiving him.
If it be so,—as so ’tis put on me,
And that in way of caution,—I must tell you
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
If that's true — and it's been reported to me, and reported as a warning — then I have to tell you that you don't understand your own position as clearly as my daughter and your own honor require.
What is between you?
What's going on between you?
Give me up the truth.
Give me the truth.
Ophelia
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
My lord, he has lately made me many offers of his affection.
Polonius
Affection! Pooh!
Affection! Nonsense.
You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
You're talking like an inexperienced girl who's never been tested in a dangerous situation like this.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Do you believe these offers, as you call them?
Ophelia
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
I don't know, my lord, what I'm supposed to think.
Polonius
Marry, I’ll teach you;
Well, I'll teach you.
think yourself a baby;
That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling.
Think of yourself as an infant, since you've taken these offers as real currency when they aren't legal tender.
Tender yourself more dearly;
Offer yourself at a higher price
Or,—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus,—you’ll tender me a fool.
— or, not to run this poor word into the ground, you'll offer me up as a fool.
Ophelia
My lord, he hath importun’d me with love
In honourable fashion.
My lord, he has pressed his love on me in an honorable way.
Polonius
Ay, fashion you may call it;
Yes, you can call it a way, all right.
go to, go to.
Come on, come on.
Ophelia
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
And he has backed up what he said, my lord, with just about every sacred vow in heaven.
Polonius
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.
Yes — snares to catch stupid birds.
I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows:
I know very well how generously the soul lends the tongue vows when the blood is up.
these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire.
These flare-ups, daughter, give more light than heat and go out in both even as they're being promised, right while they're being made — don't mistake them for a real fire.
From this time
Be something scanter of your maiden presence;
From now on, be a little more sparing of your company.
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley.
Set the price of your attention higher than a mere summons to talk.
For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him that he is young;
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you.
As for Lord Hamlet, believe this much about him: he's young, and he's allowed a longer leash than you'll ever be given.
In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows;
In short, Ophelia, don't believe his vows.
for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile.
They're pimps — not the pure color their clothing suggests, but agents begging on behalf of unholy desires, sounding as holy and pious as a well-spoken madam, all the better to deceive you.
This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Here's the sum of it: from now on, in plain words, I don't want you disgracing a single free moment by talking with Lord Hamlet or trading a word with him.
Look to’t, I charge you;
See to it — that's an order.
come your ways.
Come along.
Ophelia
I shall obey, my lord.
I'll obey, my lord.
Exeunt.
Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3 summary
Laertes, leaving for France, warns his sister Ophelia that Hamlet's affection is a passing fancy and that a prince cannot choose his own wife anyway. Polonius arrives, loads Laertes with a string of maxims ending in "to thine own self be true," and then interrogates Ophelia about Hamlet, dismissing his vows as traps and forbidding her to speak to him again. Ophelia obeys — the order that will help push both her and Hamlet toward disaster.
Who appears in this scene
Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius — A room in Polonius’s house.
Famous lines in Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3, explained
- “Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; / Whilst like a puff’d and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,” (line 50)
- Ophelia's only real act of resistance in the scene: she takes her brother's lecture on chastity and points out that he is off to Paris to do exactly what he is warning her against. The "primrose path" — an easy, flower-lined route to ruin — enters English here and has stayed. It also establishes that Ophelia is quick and clear-sighted, which makes her later collapse a loss rather than a weak character's inevitable end.
- “Neither a borrower nor a lender be:” (line 79)
- The most quoted piece of financial advice in English literature, and it is offered by a man Shakespeare is portraying as a tedious old fool. Polonius's precepts are not wrong so much as secondhand — proverbs anyone could recite, delivered at length to a son who is trying to catch a boat. Notice too that his reason is self-protective: lending costs you the money and the friend, so don't risk either.
- “This above all: to thine own self be true; / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man.” (line 82)
- Read on its own this sounds like a call to authenticity, and it gets quoted at graduations that way — but in context it is the closing flourish of a windbag's speech, and Polonius means something narrower and more cynical: look after your own interests, and you will never be caught short by anyone else. The play then spends five acts demolishing him. Polonius spies, schemes, sends a servant to spread rumors about his own son, and dies hiding behind a curtain — a man who was never once honest with himself. Shakespeare is showing how easily a pleasing-sounding maxim substitutes for actual wisdom.
Keep reading
- Act 1, Scene 2 — modern English translation
- Act 1, Scene 4 — modern English translation
- All Hamlet scenes
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