Get thee to a nunnery

Get thee to a nunnery: Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not born me...

Spoken by Hamlet to Ophelia, in Willam Shakespeare's tradegy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Angry over the murder of his father, and frustrated by his own inaction, Hamlet has decided that the whole human race is worthless, and he lashes out at Ophelia, the girl he loves, urging her not to take any part in the continuation of humanity.

Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.

''Get thee to a nunnery'' also contains some not very flattering innuendo. The term 'nunnery' was slang for a brothel ('abbess' was used to refer to the madam in charge of the establishment). This passage follows hard upon Ophelia's rejection of Hamlet, and can be seen to link her to his earlier comment about his mother; ''Frailty, thy name is woman.''

Just a few lines previously, Hamlet says:

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. I did love thee once.

This and the rest of the scene not only indicate that he believes her to be untruthful and unfaithful, but reveals it as part of the greater disillusionment which contributes to his depression and instability. It also equates beauty with a whore in the usage of ''bawd.''