This above all: to thine own self be true

Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare which dramatizes the revenge of

prince hamlet of Denmark on his uncle Claudius. The play revolves around Poloniuss
advice to his son Laertes when the latter decides to go to Paris to continue his studies. As
a concerned parent Polonius gives this advice to his son among others too but is later seen
in the play not following his own advices. The famous advice given by Polonius to his
son is:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
This advice is present throughout the entire play, together with the motifs of truth and
lying. The characters desire to be true to themselves; however, some of them are not true
to others. In the play, the main character Hamlet is a person who is neither true to himself
nor others. Even when the ghost of his father tells him that he was murdered by hamlets
uncle Claudius, hamlet doubts the truth. Because he distrusts the Ghost, Hamlet is not
true to his father. However, when his plan proves to him that the Ghosts words are true,
Hamlet still does not act; he still cannot avenge his fathers murder. Hamlet decides not to
kill Claudius, using the fact that he is praying as an excuse. He is not true and is lying to
himself, because he wants to kill Claudius, yet does not. Even Claudius isnt true to
himself or others as he killed his own brother and took over the kingdom hiding the truth
from everyone.
the above advice simply means being true to yourself. According to Shakespearean plays,
Someone who is not true to himself\herself is false or fake. You should not engage in selfdeception. This famous quote tells us that we should stick to our principles, not
assimilate, and that we should do what we believe in. One needs to be honest with
oneself which will lead to being honest with others. Being honest with others will
prove your credibility and integrity.
one can be true to oneself only if one knows oneself. You should what you are
comfortable with. Know what your strengths are. Doing things just because others are
doing it will not help us. Also, the easiest person to deceive in the whole world is you! If
were not clear on who we are and what we stand for, its easy to deceive ourselves into
thinking that a path, set and directed by others, is the right one for us. When we can
deceive ourselves we will believe every lie told by the world. We will lose control of our
life. Your choices and opinions only affect you and no one else. People will tell us what

to do and sometimes we even follow their advice without thinking if it even is for us. In
todays world everyone loves giving a free-for-all advice. And people even tend to follow
them without a moments thought, without thinking is it really for me? Do I really need
it? Will it even help me? All of us are ready to jump in someone elses shoes. We are
very happy if someone else shows us a path as it is the easy way out rather than figuring
out what to do ourselves.
Self-deception is the most common escape route people use to prevent themselves from
feeling guilty. If a man was unsure of his skills and was afraid to test them in work he
might turn into an alcoholic without knowing why. Using that self-deception method that
person can blame his alcoholism for his poor performance without realizing that its all a
scenario set up by his mind to allow him to escape. People don accept their mistakes but
instead they blame others. It takes a lot of courage to accept ones fault. To escape selfdeception one needs to face the truth. It is very common when people try to fit in, try to
be someone else. Every day we can see ourselves in a conflict who should I be? we try
to fit in by imitating someone elses personality rather than finding our own. Thus we
cannot see our own individual self. People do find later on that happiness is believing in
oneself. No one is perfect and every one of us has flaws. To accept these flaws is in itself
a herculean task! You have to accept yourself as you are rather than trying to be someone
else. You have to accept change. Not the change you go through for others but a change
you go through for yourself.
Honesty is something that is valued by all. As it is something valued by everyone it is
also very difficult to find these days. To be honest to others you need to be honest to
yourself. Being honest and straightforward in life will give you great results. At the end
of the day, everything depends on what you believe in. you are the person in control of
YOUR life. Accepting the person you are and not changing yourself, just because
someone is not comfortable with you is all that matters. Individuality is very important.
Despite all the influences of peers and society, ultimately the way you defined yourself is
determined by your own discretion.
So as you continue to grow, as you mask latches tighter onto your face, remember that if
you are being fake, not only are you lying to the world, but you are lying to yourself as
well.