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  • Title: Hamlet (Modern, Quarto 1)
  • Editor: David Bevington
  • ISBN: 978-1-55058-434-9

    Copyright David Bevington. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: David Bevington
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Hamlet (Modern, Quarto 1)

    460[Scene 3]
    Enter Laertes and Ofelia.
    Laertes
    My necessaries are inbarked. I must aboard,
    462.1But, ere I part, mark what I say to thee:
    I see Prince Hamlet makes a show of love.
    Beware, Ofelia, do not trust his vows.
    Perhaps he loves you now, and now his tongue
    Speaks from his heart, but yet take heed, my sister.
    The chariest maid is prodigal enough
    500If she unmask her beauty to the moon.
    Virtue itself scapes not calumnious thoughts.
    Believe't, Ofelia. Therefore keep aloof
    496.1Lest that he trip thy honor and thy fame.
    Brother, to this I have lent attentive ear,
    And doubt not but to keep my honor firm.
    But, my dear brother, do not you,
    510Like to a cunning sophister,
    Teach me the path and ready way to heaven
    511.1While you, forgetting what is said to me,
    Yourself like to a careless libertine
    512.1Doth give his heart his appetite at full,
    And little recks how that his honor dies.
    515Laertes
    No, fear it not, my dear Ofelia.
    Here comes my father. Occasion smiles upon a second leave.
    Enter Corambis.
    520Corambis
    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.
    Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
    Those friends thou hast, and their adoptions tried,
    Grapple them to thee with a hoop of steel,
    But do not dull the palm with entertain
    530Of every new unfledged courage.
    Beware of entrance into a quarrel, but, being in,
    Bear it that the opposèd may beware of thee.
    535Costly thy apparel as thy purse can buy,
    But not expressed in fashion,
    For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
    And they of France of the chief rank and station
    Are of a most select and general chief in that.
    This above all, to thy own self be true,
    And it must follow as the night the day
    545Thou canst not then be false to any one.
    Farewell. My blessing with thee!
    Laertes
    I humbly take my leave.--Farewell, Ofelia,
    And remember well what I have said to
    you.
    Exit.
    Ofelia
    It is already locked within my heart,
    And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
    Corambis
    What is't, Ofelia, he hath said to you?
    555Ofelia
    Something touching the prince Hamlet.
    Corambis
    Marry, well thought on. 'Tis given me to understand
    That you have been too prodigal of your maiden presence
    560Unto Prince Hamlet. If it be so--
    As so 'tis given to me, and that in way of caution--
    I must tell you, you do not understand yourself
    So well as befits my honor and your credit.
    565Ofelia
    My lord, he hath made many tenders of his loveto me.
    Corambis
    Tenders? Ay, ay, tenders you may call them.
    580Ofelia
    And withal such earnest vows--
    Corambis
    Springes to catch woodcocks.
    What, do not I know when the blood doth burn
    How prodigal the tongue lends the heart vows?
    In brief, be more scanter of your maiden presence,
    575Or, tend'ring thus, you'll tender me a fool.
    Ofelia
    I shall obey, my lord, in all I may.
    602.1Corambis
    Ofelia, receive none of his letters,
    For lovers' lines are snares to entrap the heart.
    "Refuse his tokens. Both of them are keys
    To unlock chastity unto desire.
    Come in, Ofelia. Such men often prove
    601.1"Great in their words, but little in their love.
    Ofelia
    I will, my lord.
    Exeunt.