Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?
 William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1623). copy citation

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Author William Shakespeare
Source Hamlet
Topic beauty honesty
Date 1623
Language English
Reference
Note Written between 1599 and 1602
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1524/1524-h/1524-h.htm

Context


OPHELIA. My lord? HAMLET. Are you fair? OPHELIA. What means your lordship? HAMLET. That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. OPHELIA. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? HAMLET. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof.” source

Meaning and analysis

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