OPHELIA: I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
POLONIUS: Marry, I’ll teach you: think yourself a baby
That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling.
– William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3. In his attempts to control Ophelia and her relationship with Hamlet, Polonius ridicules his daughter. Using two metaphors, he compares her to a infant he has to teach and describes Hamlet’s “tenders” or expressions of affections as “not sterling” – not true silver coins. He tells Ophelia to put a higher value on herself when it comes to Hamlet or she will make her father look a fool. Polonius thinks he is being clever by punning in response to Ophelia’s use of “tenders” when she speaks of Hamlet’s letters of affection to her. On being confronted by her father’s bullying and the patriarchal misogyny of her brother Laertes, Ophelia feels that she lacks her own voice and even the ability to think.