Question

et, 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,
or breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
or by some habit that too much o’er-leavens
the form of plessive 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”
“bear those”
“bear this”
out between the words but and few?

Explanation:

In Shakespearean English, contractions and elisions are common. "Bear ’t" is a contraction of "Bear it", where the apostrophe indicates the omission of the letter "i" from "it". The context of the quote (Polonius giving advice) also supports that "Bear it" (take this advice to heart) makes sense, while "Bear those" and "Bear this" don't fit the grammatical and contextual structure of the phrase as well as "Bear it" does.

Answer:

"Bear it"