Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; / Whilst like a puff’d and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, / And recks not his own rede.
Act I, Scene 3 · Ophelia
Context
Ophelia responds to her brother's lengthy advice by warning him not to be a hypocrite—not to preach virtue to her while behaving recklessly himself.
Analysis
The juxtaposition of 'steep and thorny way to heaven' versus 'primrose path of dalliance' mirrors the two roads visually—one hard and upward, one easy and flowered—but Ophelia's real bite is in the verb 'recks not his own rede,' where the alliteration and Old English flavor ('rede' = counsel) make Laertes' hypocrisy sound both ancient and ridiculous. She's calling out a gendered double standard using the same elevated diction he's been using, turning his rhetorical weapon back on him.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Ophelia is sharper and more skeptical than she's often given credit for—she sees through Laertes' moralizing and directly names male hypocrisy, showing she has critical awareness even if she ultimately obeys, which makes her later obedience feel coerced rather than naive.