Hamlet. Act One, Scenes Three and Four.

1. Laertes tells Ophelia to not get caught up in Hamlet's confessions of love. Laertes says that Hamlet is surely using Ophelia and if she gives in to Hamlet she will be ruined and bring shame on herself and embarrass the family.

2. This fits the concept of the decaying garden because it's comparing women to the garden and the canker to sex. Sex, in this metaphor, means being ruined. By calling the women "infants" it implies that they are innocent, as it is generally accepted that babies are born innocent. After the canker comes to the flowers, or after the women lose their virginity, they are ruined forever. They cannot become the vibrant, innocent, young flower they once were.

3. She tells him that she knows what he does in France, so he should quit preaching. She means that he needs to quit being a hypocrite and take his own advice, because he's fooling around with women himself.

4. This means she should keep her thoughts to herself and not share them because it will turn out better for them that way. Keep your judgments to yourself but listen to what others think. Don't borrow or lend money. Figure out who your real friends are and keep them.

5. "Think yourself a baby that you have ta'en these tender for true pay...you'll tender me a fool." Polonius is trying to say that Ophelia is being naive as if she were a child because she believes Hamlet's love is pure and true, when Polonius believes it is not.

6. "As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, disasters in the sun" What is trying to be said in this metaphor is that catastrophe will come soon. I believe this is a foreshadow to the fall of the country of Denmark, which represents the fall of mankind. Fire could mean that the country will be burned, or it could represent a war. Blood implies that the war will be extremely bloody and gory.

7. He commands her to stop seeing Hamlet.

8. He is speaking mostly about the reputation of the castle and of Denmark as a whole. He says that the people in the castle are known for partying and drinking and that it is lessening the value of their achievements because all people see is their bad reputation.

9. Horatio believes the ghost may not be peaceful and if Hamlet follows him the ghost will work his way into Hamlet's head and eventually convince him to commit suicide. I believe this is a foreshadow.

10. He tells them to stay where they are and not follow him to see the ghost.