Act 1, Scene 3

A room in Polonius's house.

[Enter Laertes and Ophelia.]
Laertes
466 My necessaries are embark'd: farewell:
467 And, sister, as the winds give benefit
468 And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,
469 But let me hear from you.
Ophelia
470 Do you doubt that?
Laertes
471 For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
472 Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood:
473 A violet in the youth of primy nature,
474 Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting;
475 The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
476 No more.
Ophelia
477 No more but so?
Laertes
478 Think it no more:
479 For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
480 In thews and bulk; but as this temple waxes,
481 The inward service of the mind and soul
482 Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now;
483 And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
484 The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
485 His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
486 For he himself is subject to his birth:
487 He may not, as unvalu'd persons do,
488 Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
489 The safety and health of this whole state;
490 And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd
491 Unto the voice and yielding of that body
492 Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
493 It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
494 As he in his particular act and place
495 May give his saying deed; which is no further
496 Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
497 Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain
498 If with too credent ear you list his songs,
499 Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
500 To his unmaster'd importunity.
501 Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister;
502 And keep you in the rear of your affection,
503 Out of the shot and danger of desire.
504 The chariest maid is prodigal enough
505 If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
506 Virtue itself scopes not calumnious strokes:
507 The canker galls the infants of the spring
508 Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd:
509 And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
510 Contagious blastments are most imminent.
511 Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
512 Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
Ophelia
513 I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep
514 As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
515 Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
516 Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
517 Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
518 Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
519 And recks not his own read.
Laertes
520 O, fear me not.
521 I stay too long:—but here my father comes.
[Enter Polonius.]
Laertes
522 A double blessing is a double grace;
523 Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
Polonius
524 Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
525 The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
526 And you are stay'd for. There,—my blessing with thee!
[Laying his hand on Laertes's head.]
Polonius
527 And these few precepts in thy memory
528 Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
529 Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
530 Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
531 Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
532 Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
533 But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
534 Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
535 Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
536 Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
537 Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
538 Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
539 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
540 But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
541 For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
542 And they in France of the best rank and station
543 Are most select and generous chief in that.
544 Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
545 For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
546 And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
547 This above all,—to thine own self be true;
548 And it must follow, as the night the day,
549 Thou canst not then be false to any man.
550 Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!
Laertes
551 Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Polonius
552 The time invites you; go, your servants tend.
Laertes
553 Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well
554 What I have said to you.
Ophelia
555 'Tis in my memory lock'd,
556 And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
Laertes
557 Farewell.
[Exit.]
Polonius
558 What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
Ophelia
559 So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
Polonius
560 Marry, well bethought:
561 'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
562 Given private time to you; and you yourself
563 Have of your audience been most free and bounteous;
564 If it be so,—as so 'tis put on me,
565 And that in way of caution,—I must tell you
566 You do not understand yourself so clearly
567 As it behooves my daughter and your honour.
568 What is between you? give me up the truth.
Ophelia
569 He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
570 Of his affection to me.
Polonius
571 Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
572 Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
573 Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
Ophelia
574 I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
Polonius
575 Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
576 That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
577 Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
578 Or,—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
579 Wronging it thus,—you'll tender me a fool.
Ophelia
580 My lord, he hath importun'd me with love
581 In honourable fashion.
Polonius
582 Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
Ophelia
583 And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
584 With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
Polonius
585 Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
586 When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
587 Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
588 Giving more light than heat,—extinct in both,
589 Even in their promise, as it is a-making,—
590 You must not take for fire. From this time
591 Be something scanter of your maiden presence;
592 Set your entreatments at a higher rate
593 Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
594 Believe so much in him, that he is young;
595 And with a larger tether may he walk
596 Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
597 Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,—
598 Not of that dye which their investments show,
599 But mere implorators of unholy suits,
600 Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
601 The better to beguile. This is for all,—
602 I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
603 Have you so slander any moment leisure
604 As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
605 Look to't, I charge you; come your ways.
Ophelia
606 I shall obey, my lord.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 472archaic vocab
“toy in blood”
Toy here means a trifle or whim, not a plaything; blood means youthful passion or desire. Laertes calls Hamlet's feelings a passing fancy driven by hormones, not real love.
TLN 473archaic vocab
“A violet in the youth of primy nature”
Primy means in its prime, at the peak of spring. Laertes compares Hamlet's love to a violet — beautiful but short-lived — that blooms early and fades just as quickly. The following lines ('Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting; / The perfume and suppliance of a minute') extend the metaphor.
TLN 479archaic vocab
“nature, crescent, does not grow alone”
Crescent here is an adjective meaning growing or increasing (from Latin crescere, to grow), not the moon shape. Laertes argues that as a person grows physically (in 'thews and bulk' — muscles and size), their mind and moral responsibilities grow too.
TLN 483archaic vocab
“cautel”
Cautel (also spelled cautle) is an obsolete word for deceit, craft, or a cunning trick. Laertes says Hamlet's intentions may be pure now, with no 'soil nor cautel' (no stain of deceit), but that can change.
TLN 504archaic vocab
“chariest maid is prodigal enough”
Chariest is the superlative of chary, meaning most careful, most cautious about protecting oneself — especially one's reputation or chastity. Laertes argues that even the most guarded young woman gives away too much simply by letting herself be seen.
TLN 507cultural context
“The canker galls the infants of the spring”
Canker is a plant disease (canker-worm or rose-canker) that devours the unopened buds of roses and other early flowers — 'infants of the spring' means the young buds. 'Galls' means wounds or destroys. Laertes warns that corruption, like plant disease, strikes the most vulnerable before they can protect themselves.
TLN 508archaic vocab
“before their buttons be disclos'd”
Buttons here means flower buds (the rounded, closed heads before they open), not clothing fasteners. Disclosed means opened or revealed. The canker destroys the buds before they have a chance to bloom — continuing the horticultural metaphor.
TLN 519archaic vocab
“recks not his own read”
Recks means cares or heeds (from Old English reccan, to heed). Read means counsel or teaching. Ophelia is saying the ungracious pastor does not follow — or even care about — his own advice: he preaches one way and lives another. The phrase is a compressed rebuttal of Laertes's sermon.
TLN 528archaic vocab
“Look thou character”
Character here is a verb meaning to inscribe or engrave — to write as if cutting letters into stone or wax. Polonius is telling Laertes to 'inscribe these precepts in your memory' rather than just storing them loosely in mind. The word evokes writing cut into a hard surface, emphasizing permanence.
TLN 538archaic vocab
“Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment”
Censure in Elizabethan usage means opinion or judgment (not only harsh criticism as it usually does today). Polonius advises: listen carefully to what other people think, but keep your own conclusions to yourself rather than declaring them publicly.
TLN 560archaic vocab
“Marry, well bethought”
Marry is a mild oath derived from 'Mary' (the Virgin Mary), used as a casual exclamation meaning 'indeed' or 'certainly.' By Shakespeare's time it had largely lost its religious force and become a filler word, roughly equivalent to 'why' or 'well now.' Students often misread it as the verb 'to marry.'
TLN 569wordplay
“tenders”
Shakespeare runs 'tender' through three different meanings in quick succession: (1) Ophelia uses it as 'offers' or 'expressions' of affection (TLN 568, 572); (2) Polonius twists it to 'coins' or 'legal currency' — 'not sterling' (TLN 575–576); (3) then as the verb 'to offer up' when he says 'Tender yourself more dearly' (TLN 576) and 'you'll tender me a fool' (TLN 578). The financial pun implies Ophelia has been taken in by counterfeit coin and will pay dearly.
TLN 572archaic vocab
“Unsifted in such perilous circumstance”
Unsifted means untested, inexperienced — like grain that has not been sifted to separate good from bad. Polonius calls Ophelia a 'green girl' (naive and unripe) who has never been properly tested in dangerous situations and cannot judge Hamlet's true intentions.
TLN 585cultural context
“springes to catch woodcocks”
A springe (rhymes with 'hinge') is a snare — a loop of cord or wire set to catch a bird. Woodcocks were proverbially stupid birds, easily trapped, and 'woodcock' was Elizabethan slang for a gull or fool. Polonius means: Hamlet's holy vows are just traps, and Ophelia is being a fool to walk into them.
TLN 597archaic vocab
“they are brokers”
Brokers here means pimps or go-betweens in illicit dealings — not just business agents. Polonius calls Hamlet's vows 'brokers' that look respectable ('investments' = outward garments) but are really 'implorators of unholy suits' — solicitors for sinful petitions. The clothing metaphor ('dye which their investments show') equates deceptive vows with a swindler dressed in holy robes.