Summary: Act I, scene iii
In Polonius’s house, Laertes prepares to leave for France.
Bidding his sister, Ophelia, farewell, he cautions her against falling
in love with Hamlet, who is, according to Laertes, too far above
her by birth to be able to love her honorably. Since Hamlet is responsible not
only for his own feelings but for his position in the state, it
may be impossible for him to marry her. Ophelia agrees to keep Laertes’ advice
as a “watchman” close to her heart but urges him not to give her
advice that he does not practice himself. Laertes reassures her that
he will take care of himself.
Polonius enters to bid his son farewell. He tells Laertes
that he must hurry to his ship but then delays him by giving him
a great deal of advice about how to behave with integrity and practicality.
Polonius admonishes Laertes to keep his thoughts to himself, restrain himself
from acting on rash desires, and treat people with familiarity but
not with vulgarity. He advises him to hold on to his old friends
but be slow to embrace new friends; to be slow to quarrel but to
fight boldly if the need arises; to listen more than he talks; to
dress richly but not gaudily; to refrain from borrowing or lending
money; and, finally, to be true to himself above all things.
Laertes leaves, bidding farewell to Ophelia once more.
Alone with his daughter, Polonius asks Ophelia what Laertes told
her before he left. Ophelia says that it was “something touching
the Lord Hamlet” (I.ii.89). Polonius asks
her about her relationship with Hamlet. She tells him that Hamlet
claims to love her. Polonius sternly echoes Laertes’ advice, and
forbids Ophelia to associate with Hamlet anymore. He tells her that
Hamlet has deceived her in swearing his love, and that she should
see through his false vows and rebuff his affections. Ophelia pledges
to obey.
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Act I, scene iii →
Summary: Act I, scene iv
It is now night. Hamlet keeps watch outside the castle
with Horatio and Marcellus, waiting in the cold for the ghost to
appear. Shortly after midnight, trumpets and gunfire sound from
the castle, and Hamlet explains that the new king is spending the
night carousing, as is the Danish custom. Disgusted, Hamlet declares
that this sort of custom is better broken than kept, saying that
the king’s revelry makes Denmark a laughingstock among other nations
and lessens the Danes’ otherwise impressive achievements. Then the
ghost appears, and Hamlet calls out to it. The ghost beckons Hamlet
to follow it out into the night. His companions urge him not to
follow, begging him to consider that the ghost might lead him toward
harm.
Hamlet himself is unsure whether his father’s apparition
is truly the king’s spirit or an evil demon, but he declares that
he cares nothing for his life and that, if his soul is immortal,
the ghost can do nothing to harm his soul. He follows after the
apparition and disappears into the darkness. Horatio and
Marcellus, stunned, declare that the event bodes ill for the nation.
Horatio proclaims that heaven will oversee the outcome of Hamlet’s
encounter with the ghost, but Marcellus says that they should follow
and try to protect him themselves. After a moment, Horatio and Marcellus
follow after Hamlet and the ghost.
Read a translation of
Act I, scene iv →
Analysis: Act I, scenes iii–iv
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
The active, headstrong, and affectionate Laertes contrasts
powerfully with the contemplative Hamlet, becoming one of Hamlet’s most
important foils in the play. (A foil is a character who by contrast
emphasizes the distinct characteristics of another character.) As
the plot progresses, Hamlet’s hesitancy to undertake his father’s revenge
will markedly contrast with Laertes’ furious willingness to avenge
his father’s death (III.iv). Act I, scene iii serves to introduce this
contrast. Since the last scene portrayed the bitterly fractured state
of Hamlet’s family, by comparison, the bustling normalcy of Polonius’s
household appears all the more striking. Polonius’s long speech
advising Laertes on how to behave in France is self-consciously
paternal, almost excessively so, as if to hammer home the contrast
between the fatherly love Laertes enjoys and Hamlet’s state of loss
and estrangement. Hamlet’s conversation with the ghost of his father
in Act I, scene v will be a grotesque recapitulation of the father-to-son
speech, with vastly darker content.
