Question

let, act i, scenes iii-iv
that for some vicious mole of nature in them,
as, in their birth,—wherein they are not guilty.
since nature cannot choose his origin,— (30)
by the o’ergrowth of some complexion,
oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
or by some habit that too much o’er-leavens
the form of plausive manners; that these men,
carrying, i say, the stamp of one defect, (35)
being nature’s livery, or fortune’s star,
their virtues else, be they as pure as grace,
as infinite as man may undergo,
shall in the general censure take corruption
from that particular fault: the dram of eale (40)
doth all the noble substance of a doubt,
to his own scandal.

in this part of the play, the ghost appears. hamlet wonders if it
is indeed the ghost of his father and why it has come. the
ghost motions for hamlet to follow it, but hamlet’s friends fear
for his safety.

click to listen to this part of the play read aloud.

polonius: bear ’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.
give every man thine ear, but few thy voice
—hamlet,
william shakespeare

use the drop-down menus to answer the questions about the
passage.

what is the meaning of the phrase “bear ’t”?
“bear it”

what word is left out between the words but and few?
“the”
“give”
“not”

Explanation:

• For the first question, in Shakespearean English, contractions like "Bear 't" often expand to "Bear it", so the dropdown option "Bear it" is correct as it explains the meaning of the contracted phrase.
• For the second question, analyzing the line "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice", the grammatical and semantic structure implies that the word "the" is omitted between "but" and "few" to properly convey the idea of listening to many but speaking to a select few.

Answer:

For the first question (meaning of "Bear 't"): "Bear it" (the phrase "Bear 't" is a contraction, and its expanded form is "Bear it", so the meaning - related answer from the dropdown is "Bear it").
For the second question (word left out between "but" and "few"): "the" (the original line is "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice", and when considering the structure, the word left out between "but" and "few" is "the" to make the sense "but the few thy voice" (in the context of the line's meaning about listening to many but speaking to few)).