To Thine Own Self Be True

As you can tell from the name of my blog, I’m quite the fan of the Bard. I’ve loved and been fascinated by his works since my first year of high school. When we had to memorize soliloquys, I would take such great pains to learn the meanings of every word, to understand the motivations of the character and why they would say these words. I grasped at the intonation, the pauses, the sweet rhythm of the words working together to convey an idea or an emotion. Ahhh I let them touch my soul. It hasn’t really stopped. It’s only gotten worse.

Lately I’ve been reminded of one of my favorite lines from the play Hamlet. It’s spoken by Polonius, Ophelia’s father. He’s a very interesting character because he goes about the play spouting off random philosophical quotes without completely understanding them. He is a generic fortune teller in a way – a horoscope that could work for anyone. But this particular quote has always resonated with me because there’s immense depth in those six words.

The full quote is: “This above all: to thine own self be true”.

Let me tell you my interpretation of this quote. I’ve always seen it as a reminder that in this world you can only make yourself happy. You can only be responsible for your own actions and at least make those actions worthy of you. In other words, let you actions and words be the testament of who you are. Don’t be nice to people you don’t like because that’s a lie. Don’t tell someone to not do something that you then go and do. Why wouldn’t those rules apply to you? Speak correctly and act in the same manner that you speak, conscientiously. Be considerate to other as you would like them to be to you. Basically, when you get to the end of your life, can you say you’ve lived the life you’ve wanted?

But my interpretation goes even further than that. It’s also meant to be comfortable with yourself. Learn to like yourself because you are going to be spending a lot of time with yourself. And once you are at ease with yourself, everything else falls into place. Things don’t seem as awful, people don’t get to you as much etc.

Now here comes the reason why this quote has been echoing to me a lot recently. A lot of my friends are single and a lot of my friends are getting married this year. And I want them and all women to know, you don’t need a man to define who you are. If anything, they subtract from you. Always, always do what you want to with your life. Make a name for yourself by pursuing things that give you pleasure. Live your life for no one else for a long time because when someone else comes along, it’ll make you a better person. You will know that you don’t need that guy there to give you meaning. What I’ve noticed is that when you are doing what makes you happy, you shine. The brilliance that comes from that shine is what attracts people to you. In that way, some person will take notice of you if you are single. And your significant other will respect you for the person you are.

So, my dear Polonius, regardless of your intentions in saying those words to Hamlet, you struck gold with me.