What advice does laertes and polonius give ophelia?

Answer 1

Neither a borrower or a lender be

Answer 2

Polonius never said anything briefly. This is his advice to Laertes:

Give thy thoughts no tongue,

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;

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;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

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 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,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

To summarize, Laertes receives 9 pieces of advice from Polonius:

1) keep thoughts to oneself

2) be friendly but not too friendly

3) have some friends but keep your distance

4) Try to stay away from confrontation however, if he must get involved, make sure he overcomes all

5) be a good listener, and do not talk much

6) Listen to what others say and reserve his ones judgement

7) buy nice and expensive clothing but nothing that overbears your friends' clothes

8) do lend or borrow money

9) be yourself !
Laertes receives 9 pieces of advice from Polonius actually.

1) keep thoughts to oneself

2) be friendly but not too friendly

3) have some friends but keep your distance

4) Try to stay away from confrontation however, if he must get involved, make sure he overcomes all

5) be a good listener, and do not talk much

6) Listen to what others say and reserve his ones judgement

7) buy nice and expensive clothing but nothing that overbears your friends' clothes

8) do lend or borrow money

9) be yourself !

Answer 3

Polonius advises Ophelia not to speak or interact with Hamlet. Polonius believes that Hamlet would never be able to marry Ophelia; thus Polonius does not want the risk of Hamlet taking Ophelia's virginity.

Some would say that this is a bit of an over reaction to Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship, though there are reasons that support the idea that Ophelia is already pregnant during the play.

Answer 4

He gives a lot of advice, as follows:

And these few precepts in thy memory

See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,

Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

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 ownself be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Right. Here are the pieces of advice, all numbered:

1. "Give thy thoughts no tongue". Keep your thoughts to yourself

2. "Nor any unproportioned thought his act." Unproportioned is glossed as "unbalanced". I think what he's getting at is not to act rashly, without giving it balanced consideration.

3. "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar." Find a balance between standoffishness and overfamiliarity.

4. "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade." Keep your old friends, the ones you know you can trust.

5. "Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee." This is pretty obvious. Don't start fights and don't lose them.

6. "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment." Polonius is a spymaster, he knows that knowledge is power. Listening to others may give you power over them, talking too much may give them power over you. It's ironic as well, because Polonius does a lot of talking and not much listening.

7. "Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;" You want to dress to impress. Expensive clothes, but in good taste.

8. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" That's pretty obvious, especially since Polonius goes on to explain why both borrowing and lending can be bad ideas.

9, "This above all, to thine own self be true." Endlessly quoted and yet not particularly easy to explain. Normally it is taken as meaning that you must do what your conscience dictates, and what is in accord with your deeper desires.

Answer 5

They both advise her to dump Hamlet, for slightly different reasons.