It's locked away in my memory, and you've
got the key.
LAERTES
Farewell.
LAERTES
Good-bye.
Exit LAERTES
LAERTES exits.
POLONIUS
What is 't, Ophelia, he hath said to you?
POLONIUS
What did he tell you, Ophelia?
OPHELIA
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
LAERTES
Something about Hamlet.
POLONIUS
90
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—
95
And that in way of caution—I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behooves my daughter and your honor.
What is between you? Give me up the truth.
POLONIUS
A good thing he did, by God. I've heard
Hamlet's been spending a lot of time alone with you
recently, and you've made yourself quite available to
him. If things are the way people tell me they are—and
they're only telling me this to warn me—then I
have to say, you're not conducting yourself with the
self-restraint a daughter of mine should show. What's
going on between you two? Tell me the truth.
OPHELIA
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
100
Of his affection to me.
OPHELIA
He's offered me a lot of affection lately.
POLONIUS
Affection! Pooh, you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his “tenders,” as you call
them?
POLONIUS
“Affection!” That's nothing!
You're talking like some innocent girl who
doesn't understand the ways of the world. Do you believe
his “offers,” as you call them?
OPHELIA
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
OPHELIA
I don't know what to believe, father.
POLONIUS
105
Marry, I'll teach you. Think yourself a baby
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
Or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus—you'll tender me a
fool.
POLONIUS
Then I'll tell you. Believe that you are a foolish
little baby for believing these “offers” are
something real. Offer yourself more respect, or—not to
beat this word to death—you'll offer me the
chance to be a laughing-stock.
