In this scene he is a concerned brother, not yet the man of action he becomes after his father's death. His advice is not cruel — it is the advice of someone who knows how courts work. But he is also young enough to romanticize his own warnings: 'the canker galls the infants of the spring / Too oft before their buttons be disclosed.' He speaks in elaborate metaphors when he's anxious.
My necessaries are embark’d. Farewell.
And, sister, as the winds give benefit
And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
But let me hear from you.
My things are packed. Goodbye, sister. As soon as the winds favor your travels, don't sleep — write to me.
I'm leaving. Ophelia, write to me as soon as you can.
i'm going write to me please
Her first substantial speech in the play is a defense of Hamlet that is also completely accurate: 'He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me.' She reports facts. She doesn't exaggerate. When she pushes back — 'I do not know, my lord, what I should think' — Polonius fills the silence with his own interpretation. Ophelia's tragedy begins here, in a scene where her intelligence and judgment are repeatedly overridden.
Do you doubt that?
Do you doubt it?
Of course I will.
of course
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;
No more.
As for Hamlet and his attention to you — don't take it seriously. It's a passing fancy, a momentary impulse. Like a flower in spring — beautiful now, but it will fade. It's sweet for a minute, then nothing. No more.
Don't trust Hamlet's affection. It's just a passing thing. He's young, he's interested now, but it won't last. It's just a moment.
hamlet just a phase won't last don't trust it flower in spring beautiful then gone
No more but so?
No more than that?
That's all?
just that
Think it no 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. Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will; but you must fear,
His greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his 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;
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib’d
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. 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; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
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.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes:
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.
Be wary then, best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Forget about it. A man's body grows, but so does his mind and character. Maybe Hamlet loves you now, and maybe his intentions are good. But you must understand: he's a prince. His choice isn't his own — it belongs to the state. He can't marry as he pleases; Denmark depends on his marriage. His feelings may be genuine, but only his publicly approved actions matter. So think carefully about what you risk if you believe his words too eagerly, lose your heart, or give your virginity to his uncontrolled desires. Fear this, Ophelia — protect yourself. The most careful woman is foolish if she reveals herself to the world. Even pure virtue can be damaged by rumor. Young things are vulnerable — their reputation can be destroyed before they even open fully. You're young, and you need to be very careful. Young girls naturally rebel against caution, but you must. Be cautious.
Think about it: he's a prince. His marriage isn't his choice — it's the state's choice. So even if he loves you now, he might not be able to marry you. His public actions are all that matter. So if you let him sweet-talk you or seduce you, what happens to your reputation? To your honor? Be scared, Ophelia. The most virtuous girl looks foolish if people know she's with a man. Even pure women get damaged by rumors. Young girls especially — their reputation can be ruined before they know what's happening. You need to protect yourself. Be careful.
he's a prince his marriage isn't his choice he can't marry you even if he wants to protect yourself be careful your reputation matters
The paradox of Polonius is that his advice to Laertes is not stupid. Most of it is genuinely good practical counsel for a young man at a foreign court: don't talk too much, choose your battles, dress appropriately, don't lend money to people whose friendship you value. These are the lessons of experience, and Polonius clearly has experience.
But the advice adds up to something revealing: it is entirely about managing surface. Give thy thoughts no tongue — don't let people know what you're thinking. Rich, not gaudy — control how you appear. Beware of entrance to a quarrel — pick fights strategically. This is the philosophy of a man who has survived at court by never being entirely transparent, by always managing perception.
'To thine own self be true' arrives at the end as if it crowns the list with something deeper — and in isolation, it does. But the 'self' Polonius has been describing all speech is a self that keeps secrets, manages impressions, and avoids costly entanglements. It is not Hamlet's self, or Horatio's, or anyone's self that asks hard questions. It is the self of a competent political operator.
The audience knows this because within hours of giving this speech, Polonius will be eavesdropping behind a curtain, using his own daughter as bait to expose Hamlet, and generally doing everything he told Laertes not to do. He gave good advice. He doesn't follow it.
I shall th’effect of this good lesson keep
As watchman to 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.
I'll remember your advice — it will guard my heart. But brother, don't be like those priests who tell people to be good while they themselves do wrong. Don't preach virtue while you chase pleasure.
I'll remember this. But you — don't be like those hypocrite priests who tell people to be good while they're doing bad things themselves.
i'll remember but you don't be hypocrite don't preach virtue while you sin
O, fear me not.
I stay too long. But here my father comes.
Don't worry — I won't. I have to go. But here comes our father.
I won't. I'm late. Here comes Father.
don't worry i'm late father's here
A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Being blessed twice is doubly graceful; fortune smiles on having a second chance to say goodbye.
Getting blessed twice is twice as good; I'm lucky to have another moment to say goodbye.
blessed twice. lucky for another goodbye.
His advice to Laertes is his famous set-piece and it's worth analyzing the gap between its rhetoric and its content: the maxims are polished and quotable but add up to a philosophy of guarded self-interest — 'to thine own self be true' arrives as the climax but follows advice about keeping secrets, not lending money, and not getting too close to anyone. Watch how completely his tone shifts when he addresses Ophelia: the warmth evaporates. She is property to be managed.
Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame.
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for. There, my blessing with you.
Laertes! You're still here? Get on the ship — the wind is right, you're expected. Take my blessing.
Why are you still here? Get on the boat — the wind is perfect and they're waiting for you.
go get on the ship wind is right
Ophelia's reputation as a passive victim of circumstance begins in this scene, but it is worth looking carefully at what she actually does in it. She returns Laertes's warning about the primrose path — precisely, warmly, and effectively. She answers Polonius's interrogation factually and without dramatization: Hamlet has expressed his love honorably, with vows. She admits honest uncertainty: 'I do not know, my lord, what I should think.'
None of this passivity. This is a young woman reporting accurately, maintaining her position under pressure, and acknowledging what she genuinely doesn't know. The problem is that the men around her don't engage with her intelligence — they override it.
Laertes doesn't ask what she knows about Hamlet; he tells her what to think. Polonius doesn't investigate her report; he dismisses it as the delusion of a 'green girl.' When she says she doesn't know what to think, he doesn't help her think — he instructs her. By the end of the scene, she has been told what to feel, what Hamlet means, and what to do about it.
Her 'I shall obey, my lord' is not proof of weakness. It is the trained response of a daughter who has never been given the option of another answer. The intelligence we see in the first half of this scene will go underground and emerge grotesquely in her madness — singing, flowers, fragments — when the structures that required her obedience have collapsed.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear’t that th’opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.
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.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
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.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee.
Remember these few pieces of advice. Keep your thoughts private. Don't act on every fleeting impulse. Be friendly but never common. Those friends you have, once you've tested them, hold close like iron chains; but don't wear yourself out meeting every new person who appears. Avoid getting into quarrels; but if you're in one, make sure your enemy fears you. Listen to everyone, but rarely speak yourself. Take in what others say, but keep your own judgment. Spend on clothes as much as you can afford, but don't dress extravagantly. Your appearance shows who you are—the best nobles in France understand this and take care with their dress. Never borrow money or lend it; lending loses both the money and the friend, and borrowing weakens your sense of responsibility. Most important of all: be true to yourself. Then it naturally follows, like night follows day, that you cannot be false to anyone. Goodbye; may my blessing help this advice take root in you.
Here are some pieces of advice to remember: keep your thoughts to yourself. Don't act on every impulse that comes to you. Be friendly but not vulgar. Once you've found real friends, hold onto them tightly, but don't run around meeting every new person you encounter. Stay away from fights; if you end up in one, make sure people respect your power. Listen to what everyone has to say, but don't talk much yourself. Pay attention to what people say but make your own decisions. Spend money on good clothes if you can afford it, but don't dress flashily. The way you dress tells people who you are—the best people in France know this. Never borrow money or lend it—you'll lose both the money and the friend. Borrowing makes you careless. Most importantly: stay true to yourself. If you do that, you won't lie to anyone else. Take care; my blessing goes with this advice for you.
keep thoughts private. don't act on impulse. be friendly not vulgar. hold real friends tight. avoid fights but show strength. listen more talk less. dress nice not showy. never borrow or lend. be true to yourself & you won't lie to anyone.
Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
I respectfully take my leave now, sir.
I'll head out now, sir. Thanks for everything.
i'm heading out. thanks
The time invites you; go, your servants tend.
The situation calls for you to leave; your servants are waiting.
Time to go; your servants are ready for you.
time to head out. yr servants r waiting
Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well
What I have said to you.
Goodbye, Ophelia, and remember carefully everything I've told you.
Goodbye, Ophelia—don't forget everything I just said to you.
bye ophelia. remember what i told u
’Tis in my memory lock’d,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
It's locked in my memory, and you hold the key to it.
I won't forget what you said. You're the only one who can remind me of it.
locked in my memory u hold the key
Farewell.
Goodbye.
See you later.
bye
Laertes appears in this scene as a concerned, affectionate brother — not yet the avenger he becomes. But even here, his contrast with Hamlet is being established.
Laertes wants to go to France and his father lets him. Hamlet wants to go to Wittenberg and is told to stay. Laertes asks directly; Claudius grants it directly; the whole exchange takes eight lines. Hamlet makes no formal request and is told no before he can ask. Laertes moves through the court efficiently; Hamlet is stuck in it.
More importantly: Laertes acts. In this scene he gives advice; he leaves; he gets on the boat. When his father is killed in Act 4, he returns immediately and raises a mob. He is, from first appearance, a man of action — not because he's simple, but because he doesn't have Hamlet's particular problem, which is that thinking and doing are the same activity for him.
Shakespeare uses Laertes to show what Hamlet could be if he were different. Not better — Laertes's revenge will be treacherous, will require poisoned swords and cheating, and will kill the innocent. But it will happen. The man of action will succeed at revenge where the man of thought cannot.
What is’t, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
What has Hamlet told you, Ophelia?
What did Hamlet say to you, Ophelia?
what did hamlet tell u
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
If you please, sir, it concerns the Lord Hamlet.
Well, sir, it's about Prince Hamlet.
it's about prince hamlet
Marry, well bethought:
’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.
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.
What is between you? Give me up the truth.
Right, I've been told correctly. I've been warned that he's been spending a lot of private time with you lately, and you've been very open and generous with your time. If that's true—as I've been told and they warned me about it—I must tell you that you don't understand yourself clearly enough, as befits my daughter and your honor. What's between you? Tell me the truth.
Good, you're making sense. Look, I've heard he's been hanging around you constantly, and you've been letting him spend a lot of time with you. If that's really happening—and I've been warned that it is—then you need to understand something: you're not thinking clearly about what this means for your reputation and your honor as my daughter. What's going on between you two? Tell me honestly.
heard about u two u're not thinking clearly what's happening tell me
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
He has, my lord, recently made many expressions of affection toward me.
My lord, he's been expressing his love to me quite a lot lately.
he's been telling me he loves me. lately, a lot.
Affection! Pooh! You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Affection! Ridiculous. You talk like a naive young girl, untested in matters like this. Do you really believe these declarations, as you call them?
Affection? Come on. You're talking like a kid who's never seen the world. You actually think he means all this romantic stuff?
you're being naive these aren't real you don't understand what he actually wants
Ophelia is not the only woman in the play who is expected to obey without explanation. Gertrude married Claudius — how much she was consulted, or whether she had a choice, is never stated. The women of Hamlet are in a world that expects compliance from them as its default condition.
What makes Ophelia's situation especially acute is that her compliance has direct consequences for the plot. By following her father's instructions and cutting off Hamlet, she becomes part of the surveillance system that Claudius will later exploit more deliberately. In 2-1 Polonius will send her to Hamlet while he and Claudius watch from hiding. Her obedience becomes an instrument of state observation.
Shakespeare never shows Ophelia resisting this. What he shows instead is the cost: by 4-5, with her father dead and Hamlet gone, she is singing songs about death and sexual betrayal, distributing flowers, unable to maintain coherent speech. The question the play raises but doesn't answer is whether her madness is grief, or whether it is what happens to a person who has been required to suppress her own judgment long enough.
Her final obedience — 'I shall obey, my lord' — takes on retrospective horror because it is her last clearly voluntary act in the play. Everything after this is something that happens to her.
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
I don't know, my lord. I'm not sure what I should think.
I don't know, my lord. I don't know what to think.
i don't know what he wants what i should believe what any of this means
Marry, I’ll teach you; think yourself a baby;
That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or,—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus,—you’ll tender me a fool.
Well then, I'll instruct you. Think of yourself as a baby who has confused these 'tenders' — these offers — with real currency. They're counterfeit. Value yourself more highly. Or, to speak plainly without overworking the metaphor — you'll make a fool of me.
Then I'll teach you. You're treating his romantic overtures like they're real money. They're not. They're fake. You need to think you're worth more. Or put it this way — if you don't, you're making me look like an idiot.
stop being an idiot these romantic words are worthless value yourself or you embarrass me
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.
But father, he's done it honorably. He's been respectful about it.
he's been respectful he's been proper why are you like this
Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Honorable? Yes, you can call it that. But understand me.
Honorable. Sure. That's what we'll call it.
honorable that's cute that's what you think
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
And he has backed up his words with action, my lord — with almost all the sacred oaths heaven could witness.
And he's sworn to me — with all these holy oaths, like he's making promises before God. He's serious about it.
he swears he swears by heaven he uses religious oaths he seems sincere
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: 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. From this time
Be something scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. 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. In few, Ophelia,
Do not 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. 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.
Look to’t, I charge you; come your ways.
Those oaths? They're just snares to catch foolish birds. Daughter, I know: when the blood burns hot, the soul is recklessly generous with vows. These passionate displays give more light than warmth, and they fade even as they're being made. Do not mistake them for genuine commitment. From now on, guard yourself. Make your company worth more — don't grant him easy access. Remember, he is young and can move more freely than you. In short, Ophelia: do not believe his oaths. They are merely agents of seduction, not genuine declarations. They come dressed in sacred words to deceive. This is my final word: do not waste any moment alone with Prince Hamlet. Do not speak with him. I charge you — go now.
Those are just tricks to trap you. Look, I know how this works. When a guy's passionate, he'll promise you anything — the words sound bright and important, but they mean nothing. They're gone the second he stops saying them. Don't fall for it. From now on, don't make yourself so available. Make him work for your company. Keep him at a distance — he's got more freedom than you do anyway. The bottom line is this, Ophelia: don't trust what he says. Those oaths are just tools to get what he wants. They're dressed up in religious language to trick you. So here's the rule: no talking to Prince Hamlet alone. None. Don't do it. I mean it — let's go.
he's manipulating you men use oaths as weapons they burn hot then go cold his words are fake don't be alone with him i forbid it
I shall obey, my lord.
I will obey you, my lord.
I'll do what you say, sir.
ok
The Reckoning
Laertes is leaving for France. Before he goes, he warns his sister Ophelia that Hamlet's love, however sincere it seems, cannot be trusted — a prince can't choose freely, and she should protect herself. Polonius enters, delivers his famous farewell advice to Laertes (a string of polished maxims), and then turns to Ophelia. He interrogates her about Hamlet and dismisses the relationship more harshly than Laertes did. His prohibition isn't just cautionary — he orders her to refuse Hamlet's visits and return his letters. Ophelia obeys. The scene ends with the machinery of Ophelia's tragedy already in motion: she is being instructed to be unavailable to the man she loves, by men who believe they are protecting her.
If this happened today…
A college senior is about to study abroad for a year. Before he goes, he pulls his younger sister aside: the guy she's been seeing? He's the dean's kid. He can't actually date her seriously — his family will never allow it. Be careful. Dad comes in, gives the departing son the speech he's been saving for years — all the life wisdom he wants documented before his son leaves. Then he turns to his daughter and demands to know what's going on with the dean's kid. She tells him. He doesn't just agree with her brother; he goes further: no more contact. Don't see him. Send his texts back unread. She says yes, of course. She always does.