Act 3 Scene 1

 OPHELIA  90                                       Good my lord,  91   How does your honor for this many a day?

      HAMLET
 92   I humbly thank you; well, well, well.

      OPHELIA
 93   My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
 94   That I have longed long to re-deliver;
 95   I pray you, now receive them.

      HAMLET
 95                               No, not I;
 96   I never gave you aught.

      OPHELIA
 97   My honor'd lord, you know right well you did;
 98   And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
 99   As made the things more rich. Their perfume lost,
100   Take these again; for to the noble mind
101   Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
102   There, my lord.

      HAMLET
103   Ha, ha! are you honest?

      OPHELIA
104   My lord?

      HAMLET
105   Are you fair?

      OPHELIA
106   What means your lordship?

      HAMLET
107   That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should
108   admit no discourse to your beauty.

      OPHELIA
109   Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than
110   with honesty?

      HAMLET
111   Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
112   transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
113   force of honesty can translate beauty into his
114   likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the
115   time gives it proof. I did love you once.

      OPHELIA
116   Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

      HAMLET
117   You should not have believ'd me, for virtue cannot
118   so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of
119   it. I lov'd you not.

      OPHELIA
120   I was the more deceived.

      HAMLET
121   Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder
122   of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I
123   could accuse me of such things that it were better my
124   mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful,
125   ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have
126   thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,
127   or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do
128   crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,
129   all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
130   Where's your father?

      OPHELIA
131   At home, my lord.

      HAMLET
132   Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
133   fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.

      OPHELIA
134   O, help him, you sweet heavens!

      HAMLET 135   If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy 136   dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou 137   shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go: 138   farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for 139   wise men know well enough what monsters you make 140   of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell.

      OPHELIA
141   O heavenly powers, restore him!

      HAMLET
142   I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
143   has given you one face, and you make yourselves
144   another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name
145   God's creatures, and make your wantonness your
146   ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad.
147   I say, we will have no moe marriages: those that are
148   married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall
149   keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.

           Exit.  Full Summary

      OPHELIA 150   O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! 151   The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; 152   The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
153   The glass of fashion and the mold of form,
154   The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
155   And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
156   That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
157   Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
158   Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
159   That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth
160   Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me,
161   To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

Aware that they are being watched, Hamlet stages his own response and argues that he gave her nothing and that he has never loved her. He tells her to go to a convent, assaulting her with another double entendre insult. Knowing that she is working for her father and Claudius, Hamlet accuses Ophelia of prostitution. Hamlet now asks a question on which turns the entire remaining action of the play: "Where is your father?" He earlier asked her, "Are you honest? Are you fair?" To which she gave no direct reply. Now he asks her where her father is, knowing full well that he is in the room. She lies, "At home, my lord." Hamlet flies into a rage. He calls her two-faced and accuses her and all women of painting a false face. His accusations leave her shocked and certain that his madness is complete and completely destructive.

Ophelia's response to Hamlet's question serves as the force that propels Hamlet's story to its tragic ends. Had Ophelia answered truthfully, had she disclosed her father's whereabouts, had she allied herself with Hamlet rather than with Claudius, had she truly believed in her love for Hamlet, Ophelia might have saved Hamlet from his burden. The play could have been a romance rather than a tragedy. However, by confirming his belief in women's basic dishonesty — "frailty thy name is woman" — Ophelia seals her fate and Hamlet's at the same time.

          Frailty thy name is women! Shakespeareuses this line to say that all women are viewed as weak, frail, and fragile. Thiswas said to be the case back in those days. In today’s world this might be thecase in what some call “Abusive relationships”. Abusive relationships occurmost commonly with a male being the predominant figure or the “abuser”. The malewould look upon the female as beneath him, weak, fragile, and worthless. Thisbrings in the line “Frailty thy name is women”. Although women are viewed aspowerful and have a voice now, in personal aspects this may not be the case intoday’s world.