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Polonius's Proverbs
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 3
Lines 55-69

An explanation on the allusion of Pollonius's Proverbs in Act 1, Scene 3 of myShakespeare's Hamlet. 

 

myShakespeare | Hamlet 1.3 Polonius's Proverbs

Polonius 

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 
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-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, 
Bear't that the opposèd may beware of thee. 
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 
Video Transcript: 

RALPH: Having the wind in the shoulder of the sail means that conditions are favorable for a ship getting underway. Imagine that you are standing on the deck of the ship, facing the direction you wish to go, and the wind is coming over your shoulder blowing in that same direction. 

SARAH: Polonius now proceeds to recite a litany of proverbs to his son; some of these are familiar to us today because Shakespeare made them so memorable in this speech.