Scene summary
About to embark for France, Laertes warns his sister Ophelia that Prince Hamlet’s interest in her is as passing as a violet of youth, and that a prince does not choose for himself, because the security of the State depends on his choice. Ophelia answers that she will keep the advice. Her father, Polonius, arrives and sends off his son with a list of precepts: not to give voice to every thought, to choose friends well, to avoid quarrels but not to shrink from them, to listen much and speak little, to dress according to one’s means, neither to lend nor to borrow and, above all, to be true to oneself. When Laertes leaves, Polonius questions his daughter about what the brother said, and learns that Hamlet has shown affection for her. He calls the prince’s courtesies coin without value, says she will make him look a fool, and orders her to stop exchanging words with Hamlet. Ophelia answers: “I shall obey, my lord.”
Analysis
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