"To thine own self be true, thou canst not then be false to any man."

These were the words of Polonius to his son Laertes in Shakespeare's play "Hamlet."

Someone may almost think that to some extent, reading Shakespeare for leisure is in some sense masochistic. Who wants to inflict on themselves the pain of figuring out what Shakespeare meant with all his thous and thys? Sometimes the language is just too complicated to construe sense and meaning from.

I have always wanted to know why the name Shakespeare lives on, why we still talk a lot about a man who is no longer with us. I began to understand this when I laid my hands on Hamlet.

In the tragedy, Hamlet intends to avenge his father's death by killing his uncle King Claudius, who he believes murdered his father and who went on to marry his mother. It almost seemed like a conspiracy.

Because of the complexity of language, the plot doesn't loosen up on the first reading, and sincerely speaking, I am trying to figure it all out myself.

I hope to be able to share more critical and personal takes regarding specific instances of the play.

Regardless, I came across one of the most spectacular speeches by a father to his son. One that spoke to me in a rather special way. To me it seemed like the best advice a son would ever receive from his father.

...

And these few precepts in thy memory

Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them unto your soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatched, unfledged Comrade.Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel;but being in

Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy;

For the apparel oft proclaims the man,

And they in France of the best rank and station

Are most select and generous, Chief in that

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry

This above all- to thine own self be true,

And it must follow as the night day.

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

When I read this I was like, "Oh my goodness!"

I really got excited to see such dispense of wisdom.

It's almost like a summary of how to live life in the most reasonable and fulfilling way.

It insists on the need to be humble and kind, how imperative it is to be prudent in life's affairs.

The amazing thing is how the verse, I will call it so, has embodied and somehow clarified perspectives and stances that I came across in other books.

What actually led me to this play, Hamlet, is 'Ego is the Enemy' by Ryan Holiday. Where he draws reference to the few finishing lines, "...and this above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night day, thou canst not then be false to any man"

And how true that is.

Shakespeare through Polonius, insists on how important it is to restrain ourselves from speaking out our thoughts. But then he goes on to insist that we should not act out any thought that we have not deliberated thoroughly upon.

As he goes on he reminds us that everyone is worthy of our ears, but very few our mouths.

 It's important that we train ourselves to be silent. And this is exactly what Ryan Holiday mentions again and again in 'Ego is the Enemy' when he candidly explains how talk kills action by forestalling it.

There's the aspect of lending and borrowing.

How lending leads to losses of both the loan and the friend to whom we extend the loan.

The borrower is not a free man as well. His life is dulled by the responsibility of paying what he owes his lender. Surely this makes life, especially friendships, bleak and tense. And I have seen it in my life. Ryan in 'Discipline is Destiny', categorizes all this, in Cato's perspective, as the Superfluous, one of the things to be shunned as a plague.

There's the bit of entertainment. It's not quite clear right now why Polonius would come to say that an excess of it dulls the palm. But I will presume, at least for now, of how 'unrestrained entertainment' takes the place of real and meaningful work. It reminds me of how Tozer handles the evil of entertainment in his work, 'Root of the Righteous'. We must recognize entertainment for what it really is, especially when we become slaves in the hands of it's pleasure. This comes at quite a significant time in my life when I have been wrestling my compulsive habit of binging shows. I know what it has caused me, what it is denying me. And I hate the guilt it causes. But what has been more humiliating is the fact that I have oft returned to the vomit. And self-sabotaging has almost been something close to second nature.

Polonius speaks of judging others, it is uncalled for, so to speak.

He instructs how it is important to pattern behavior according to our resources, without attempting to be fancy and grandeur beyond our abilities. He points out to dressing. I infer then that dressing should be decent, strictly without being showy or smothering. It's obviously important to look good, but why should it be a cause of fuss and attention? Certainly not. Oh, I am learning my lessons. The interesting fact is that this is what nearly all the books I am reading constantly speak of. Simplicity. Minimalism. Enough. Restrain. Moderation.

There's no running away from the Reality of Life.

He points out how it is important to hold friends close, especially those who have proved to be real and true. It is important to avoid indulging ourselves in what our fellows approve of.

Then he goes on to speak of how it is important to avoid altercations, to be familiar without being vulgar(I will insert contemptuous here, derogation[disparagement for that matter] that oft marks our interactions). This would be an emphasis on how important it is to be kind, and not overbearing.

This verse here is a masterpiece. Given it is the first I have come across just when I decided to look at Hamlet, I am certain that I'm set for a great deal of learning.

Thank you so much Shakespeare!