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A room in Polonius' house. Enter Laertes and Ophelia.] Laertes My necessaries are embarked. Farewell. And, sister, as the winds give benefit And convoy is assistant, do not sleep But let me hear from you. Ophelia Do you doubt that? Laertes For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor, 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. Ophelia No more but so? Laertes 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 does besmirch The virtue of his will. But you must fear, His greatness weighed, his will is not his own For he himself is subject to his birth. He may not, as unvalued persons do, Carve for himself, for on his choice depends The sanctity and health of this whole state; And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 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 sect and place, May give his saying deed, which is no further.
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain, If with too credent ear you listlists songs, Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open To his unmastered 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 disclosed; 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. Ophelia I shall the 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 puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede.
Laertes Oh, fear me not. I stay too long - but here my father comes. [Enter Polonius] A double blessing is a double grace; Occasion smiles upon a second leave. Polonius Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stayed for. There, my blessing with thee. And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opposèd may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice. Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed 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! Laertes Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. Polonius The time invites you, go. Your servants tend. Laertes Farewell, Ophelia, and remember well What I have said to you. Ophelia 'Tis in my memory locked, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. Laertes Farewell. [Exit Laertes.
Task
A. What themes are being developed in this scene about revenge, politics, actions and madness?
B. CHARACTER Analysis: What is being revealed about the characters through what they do, say, and think?
C. What does this scene make you think or feel? What are the questions that you have? What are the connections that you've made? Between the text and yourself, between the text and the world, between the text and another text you've read before. How does this part of the play connect to what has come before?