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"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind"
Context and Language Videos
Act 3,
Scene 1
Lines 94-103

A discussion of Ophelia's return of gifts to Hamlet in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare's Hamlet.

myShakespeare | Hamlet 3.1 Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind

Ophelia

My lord, I have remembrances of yours
That I have longed long to redeliver.
I pray you now receive them.

Hamlet   

No, no, I never gave you aught.

Ophelia

My honored lord, you know right well you did, 
And with them words of so sweet breath composed
As made these things more rich. Their perfume left,
Take these again, for to the noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.  
Video Transcript: 

SARAH: Ophelia begins by attempting to give back some tokens, or gifts, that Hamlet has given her — these might be love letters, or poetry, or some other romantic present.

RALPH: But Hamlet insists that he never gave her anything — perhaps this means that he never gave her anything that really mattered, anything that would count as evidence of his love?

SARAH: At any rate, by returning his gifts and calling him unkind, Ophelia seems to no longer want to patch things up. And yet, from what's happened so far, it seems strange that Ophelia would call Hamlet unkind — after all, it was she who began to refuse to see him, if only because her father ordered it -maybe when she says unkind, she's referring to Hamlet's bizarre behavior in her chamber?

RALPH: Or perhaps this speech that Ophelia is giving isn't really her words at all, but something that her father Polonius has prepared for her — after all, the bit about "rich gifts waxing poor when givers prove unkind" sounds very much like the kind of proverb that Polonius loves.