Act 1;  Scene III

A room in Polonius’s house.

Enter Laertes and Ophelia.

LAERTES.
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.

OPHELIA.
Do you doubt that?

LAERTES.
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood; impermanent, lust, desire, not true love
A violet in the youth of primy nature,
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting;
The perfume and suppliance of a minute;
No more. Speaking from experience? Does he do the same things? Hamlets’ twin

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, Like Apollo’s love for Cassandra? It was fleeting or he wouldn’t have let her be raped by both Ajax and Agamemnon and wouldn’t have let her be murdered in Mycenae. It was a theme throughout mythology that whenever a mortal got involved sexually with a god, it never turned out well for the mortal.
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; Hamlet has to answer to the kingdom and do what is best for the country rather than what he desires.
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; Doesn’t seem to care about these lofty ideals after Hamlet murders his father or is he saying that it is Hamlets duty to avenge his father as he will later do? If the ghost is an agent of Satan sent to corrupt Hamlet, by following the ghosts’ advice, does Hamlet also risk the whole “Purity” of Denmark? If Hamlet is corrupted, will Denmark be as well (Like England was deemed corrupted when Henry VIII was deemed corrupted when he turned England away from Roman Catholicism and thus was considered a heretic by the Pope)?
And therefore must his choice be circumscrib’d  Hamlet, like all kings should be circumspect in all of his actions.
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you, Hamlet has to think with his head and not his heart but Laertes does not follow his own advice (his goes off half-cocked when Polonius is killed and becomes hell-bent on revenge). All Heads of State must think with their heads and not their hearts.
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. Do not trust Hamlet because of this?
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 admonition to remain unsullied chaste. Like Cassandra staying chaste and rejecting Apollo, who was also the son of a god and the king of heaven, thus making him a prince of heaven. Apollo was notorious for his love affairs, none of which lasted longer than a short while, and the women usually ended up worse off than before hooking up with Apollo.
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. Apollo’s twin was Artemis, the goddess of the moon; the moon is synonymous with love and desire, perhaps or is it even in darkness, one can see by the moon. One’s sins, usually hidden in darkness, are revealed. Fear even the loss of your reputation because even that could be catastrophic for someone like you.
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. His advice seems false. Is it because he is speaking from experience, or is he jealous and doesn’t want Ophelia loving someone more than she does him?

OPHELIA.
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, practice what you preach buddy
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.

LAERTES.
O, 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 stay’d for. There, my blessing with you.

[Laying his hand on Laertes’s head.]

And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, A father’s expectations of his son, mirroring the Danes’ expectations for Hamlet, Agamemnon’s expectations of his own children: to avenge his murder, perhaps? Of the expectations of society for a child to avenge the death of their father. Old ways of the Dark Ages versus the new, enlightened ways of the Renaissance?
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; Keep your friends close
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: Do not talk as much as listen
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement. Keep your cards close to your vest
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, stay within your means; do not try to rise above your station in life, also applies to Ophelia, which he then ignores when he tries to tempt Hamlet with Ophelia to ease his melancholy, but it is also an advancement, for if Hamlet takes the bait, Polonius could become the father of the future Queen. Is he willing to prostitute his own daughter for gain…political gain?
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; Telling his son how to be a man, a mirror of what Hamlet does with his father in trying to live up to the expectations the Dane had for him as a man and as a king? As Agamemnon has for Orestes? As all fathers have for their sons
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. Is he giving him sound advice for his betterment, or telling him to appear as a good virtuous man. Appearance vs reality

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 lock’d,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

LAERTES.
Farewell.

[Exit.]

POLONIUS.
What is’t, Ophelia, he hath said to you?

OPHELIA.
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.

POLONIUS.
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.

OPHELIA.
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.

POLONIUS.
Affection! Pooh! You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Again admonitions to keep pure, don’t be stupid (Next thing you know he’s going to give her a purity ring; Cassandra refusing to give in to Apollo.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA.
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

POLONIUS.
Marry, I’ll teach you; think yourself a baby;
That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay, false gold
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Value yourself; unlike prostitutes who place a great monetary value on themselves but ultimately undervalue their worth. Inadvertently talking about Gertrude or a deliberate swipe by Shakespeare? Cassandra also refused to give in to Apollo and what did it get her—raped, homeless, friendless, and murdered.
Or,—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus,—you’ll tender me a fool. Value yourself; do not make me a fool by believing Hamlet protestations of love think about how your actions will reflect on me. Appearances. But then he goes and makes himself a fool by believing that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia…grasping for his own advancement at court. Don’t lower my worth by your actions. So the question is does he truly care about Ophelia, or is she an asset which he can use to advance himself?

OPHELIA.
My lord, he hath importun’d me with love
In honourable fashion.

POLONIUS.
Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

OPHELIA.
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

POLONIUS.
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul He’s trying to talk his way into your pants, serpent in Eden, seduction, lust or like Gertrude and Claudius, Aegisthus seducing Clytemnestra. Apollo trying to seduce Cassandra.
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, He’ll promise you the world girl to get what he wants but he doesn’t mean it.
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, artificial light but not fire, cold light like the moon…lunacy as opposed to the fiery heat of the sun…ardor. Artemis i.e. moon (virginal like Cassandra) vs. Apollo i.e. sun. The moon is a reflection of the sun as Ophelia is a reflection of her brother and father. And Artemis is a reflection of Apollo.
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 Your time is valuable, but why does Shakespeare use that phrase? Higher rate? Is it because he wants to portray Ophelia as a high-priced whore? Or is it because all men think of women as whores, but wives cost more than whores over time, but whores are still whores. Or is it an admonition for Ophelia not to undervalue herself?
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 Double standard for women than men, for a prince than a commoner, for a god than a mortal
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: Serpent seduction lust
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.

OPHELIA.
I shall obey, my lord.

[Exeunt.]

Importance is placed on Ophelia’s chastity. Like Cassandra, placed on her own virginity. Reflection of Cassandra rejecting Apollo, like a commoner rejecting a king, i.e., divine right.

Is the emphasis that is placed on Ophelia’s chastity an actual condemnation of Gertrude’s licentiousness?