Originally Posted by
Amleth
Hamlet has noticed Ophelia at a distance when he says "the fair Ophelia." To himself, he asks her to pray for him. He then approaches Ophelia, and she speaks first.
Hamlet knows he's being overheard in the scene. He knows Claudius is there. His remarks are a "logical argument" intended both for Ophelia and Claudius.
To understand the dialogue, it's necessary to know that Hamlet knows Claudius is there. Recall that Claudius said he summoned Hamlet to be there, but when Hamlet arrives - where's Claudius? Hamlet is expecting Claudius to be there, and Hamlet quickly perceives that Claudius is behind the arras.
We could talk more about that if you want to. It probably needs further discussion. But you'll never understand the scene without accepting that Hamlet knows Claudius is behind the arras.
The wording you have is from the First Folio version of Hamlet. The Second Quarto has the correct wording, however. The exact wording is important.
The word "honest" means "honorable." Hamlet is saying that if Ophelia is both honorable and beautiful, she should not permit compliments on her beauty.
Ophelia naturally wants to know, why not? She doesn't see why, if she's beautiful, people shouldn't truthfully say so. The word "honesty" means "truthfulness." She asks if there's a better way to approach beauty than with truthfulness.
Hamlet says the power of beauty will prostitute truthfulness. What he means, in other words, is that beauty will make men lie.
He goes on to say, that will happen easier than truthfulness can make beauty a real virtue, like "truthfulness" is.
Hamlet is casting it as a contest between truth and beauty. He's arguing that beauty will defeat truth. Beauty will make men lie, he says. The lie he means was when he told her he loved her. He's trying to argue that when he said he loved her, he didn't realize at the time that it was really her beauty defeating his truthfulness.
It's complicated, but basically he's trying to argue that Ophelia's beauty made him lie, when he said he loved her. It was a contest between her beauty, and his truth, and he lost - he told a lie.
The paradox is in beauty not being a real virtue, because it can cause lying.
"The time" means "this instance," between Hamlet and Ophelia.
Hamlet tells Ophelia she shouldn't have believed him when he said he loved her, because men are all liars. "Our old stock" means men, the male sex. He's trying to warn Ophelia that all men will be liars in response to her beauty.
Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery, where there won't be men around, because her beauty will make men lie to her. She'll "breed" sinners in that way, by turning men into liars. Because she's so beautiful, men will all be saying they love her, whether they do or not.
There's also the simple meaning that any child Ophelia would have would be a sinner, since all mankind are sinners, in some way or other. So, it has a double meaning, as many things in Hamlet do. But the "interesting" meaning is in Hamlet's claim that Ophelia's beauty will turn men into liars, who will tell her they love her whether they really do or not.
It's an extremely complicated scene that needs a great deal of discussion to fully appreciate. But essentially, Hamlet is arguing "beauty" versus "truth."
And notice that Hamlet bases his whole argument on how beautiful Ophelia is, as he sees her. There's the old saying, and it's perfectly true, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As Hamlet looks at Ophelia, she's the most beautiful thing he ever saw.
So we know how Hamlet feels about Ophelia, no matter what he says. When he says he doesn't love her, he's lying through his teeth. If he didn't love her, she wouldn't look so beautiful to him.
The Nunnery Scene is one of the great scenes in all of literature, and it's beastly intricate and complicated. It's Hamlet's logical argument about truth versus beauty, and as he says it to Ophelia, he's lyin' like a dog.
