This above all, to thine own self be true. This line from Shakespeare is so inspiring that it has been written across sunsets and mountain peaks in dozens of motivational posters. It’s been echoed by Michelle Obama, among others, and forms the central thesis of Chesney Hawkes’ 1991 debut single “The One and Only” in which he elaborates “No one can be myself like I can, for this job I’m the best man.”
Some of you are nodding wisely to yourselves thinking that you know where this assembly is headed, and you might be right, but before we get there I want to tell you about a conversation that I had with my father in law this summer. He said you can’t trust Shakespeare – which seemed a trifle harsh given the guy’s been dead for four centuries and given the amazing things he wrote, including today’s inspirational quote. You can’t trust Shakespeare, my father in law insisted, because he’s a poet and he would absolutely have written those words because they sounded good whether or not they were true. You can’t trust Shakespeare, he went on, because he was such a great poet that his words make our ears happy and we remember them without stopping to think critically about what they mean. I’ve heard of damning with faint praise, but damning with effusive praise is a new one.
The first thing to say is that Shakespeare used a poetic trick to make that line memorable – it’s in iambic pentameter: ten syllables with a nice unstressed/stressed pattern. Actually, it isn’t quite – Shakespeare is cleverer than that, the first foot is a trochee rather an an iamb: stressed unstressed rather than unstressed stressed. It means the line starts strongly as well as ending with emphasis. So yes, he’s chosen the precise words to make it sound good, to make it memorable – just as the rhymes and rhythms of Nik Kershaw’s writing ensure that Chesney’s lines are still knocking round my brain thirty years after he hit the charts.
Maybe, though, Shakespeare is simply putting a glorious idea into glorious words. To find this out we need to look a bit at the context of the line – where’s it from, who says it and why? The question of where is it from is easily looked up – it’s from the play Hamlet (which would have been a sensible play to guess if you had to: it contains so many of Shakespeare’s best-known lines that it seems familiar even if you’ve never read it before).
If you’ve not read it before, I should introduce some of the characters – to do justice to the plot would take longer than I have this morning. There are four young people – probably early 20s rather than late teens but closer to your age than mine. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark: his dad was king until he mysteriously died and his brother, Hamlet’s uncle, took over. Hamlet’s friend is a rational and sensible student called Horatio. Hamlet’s love interest (one might even say girlfriend) is called Ophelia and her brother is Laertes. Our line today is spoken by Polonius who is the father of Ophelia and Laertes and an advisor to the new king, Hamlet’s suspicious uncle. In Act 1, Scene 3, Laertes is going back to France to continue his education; he is on a tight schedule because his boat is about to leave so he’s saying a quick goodbye to Ophelia when his dad comes in to give him some advice.
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue
Nor any unproportioned thought his act
Excellent advice, thanks dad. I must dash.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Yes, yes…
Those friends thou has and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
Laertes wants to go, Laertes has to go, but Polonius goes on, and on, and on
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
Until finally he reaches our line:
This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
It’s less inspirational now, right? The words haven’t changed, but it’s not a hiker reaching the summit as dawn arises but an old windbag giving tired advice to a son who just wants to go off to college. On its own that quote is a lie, not just because Shakespeare is an untrustworthy poet (and I have to say that this view can be thoroughly disputed by students of literature – take it up with the English teachers), but because Shakespeare himself uses it ironically. The context matters, the whole quote matters, the character matters, the play matters – if you don’t know those details then the quote is as meaningless as when Chesney Hawkes says “High hopes and aspirations, ideas above my station, maybe, but all this time I’ve tried to walk with dignity and pride.” More meaningless, maybe, at least Chesney is really saying what he’s saying (although that’s not quite true: not only were the words written by Nik Kershaw but The One and Only is from a film, Buddy’s Song starring Roger Daltrey, and Chesney is singing in character. To really understand it we have to dissect that scene – another time, maybe.)
These details, the important facts for getting a full understanding, the knowledge that takes you beyond the surface are what we call Mechanics and I would urge you not to neglect them – more than that I’d encourage you to revel in them, to acquire them both strategically as they serve your subject studies and indiscriminately as they float into your life – as Tagore’s clouds – not to bring rain or usher storm but to add colour to your sunset sky. Tagore’s clouds, like Buddy’s song and Nik Kershaw are something I have no time to deal with properly today but are an invitation to you to go digging – to look into things that strike your fancy and so know more. Without a shed load of mechanics, your learning is thin and limited – you should work hard at storing them in your head: make lists and test yourself, cover and check, delight in the accuracy of your quotation and work to acquire even more detail.
I can’t leave you there, though, in an assembly on Hamlet – Polonius, delightful though he is, is a sideshow to the main event which, as you may have guessed is the court intrigue and the question of what exactly happened to Hamlet’s dad. Actually, though, even though that’s the main storyline it’s not what the play is about – it would be a pretty poor effort if it were: you’ve heard a two minute summary and I’m pretty sure you all have some confident suspicions. The question of what Hamlet is really about is way too big for me to tackle today and whatever I say will be challenged by scholars of Literature (you can ask your English teachers, but I doubt they’ll agree on a settled answer). Perhaps one thing it’s about, though, is the question of questions, the state of indecisiveness, of being unsure. That’s one of Hamlet’s main characteristics – he’s one of those heroes that has you throwing doughnuts at the stage and shouting “Just do something!” (don’t do this though – the actors don’t like it).
“This above all, to thine own self be true,” is Polonius’ most famous line. Hamlet’s is also in iambic pentameter to make it more memorable “To be or not to be, that is the question.” This is also a variation on the pentameter – it ends with an extra, unstressed syllable. This is called a feminine ending and means that instead of concluding decisively with an iamb it has a questioning feel – which is appropriate for Hamlet, prince of uncertainty’s, most uncertain line. Hamlet’s frame of mind is indicated by where the stress comes and there is a wonderful sketch that you can find on YouTube of Papa Essiedu just before he played Hamlet being advised by Tim Minchin, a host of famous actors and Prince (now King) Charles on quite how to do it. I recommend looking it up.
The speech goes on:
“To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them.”
The questions of what Hamlet is really about, what he’s thinking here and, indeed, whether it’s nobler to suffer misfortunes or fight them are not Mechanics, they’re not something you can learn and remember – they’re not something I can give a definitive answer to here and now. They’re opinion, understanding, reflection, application and argument – they are what we call Purpose and as much as you should not neglect Mechanics in your learning nor should you neglect Purpose. Learning is lists and memorisation but it’s not just that – it’s also depth of understanding, thought, reflection and uncertainty. Mechanics and Purpose – you need both.
But this above all, to thine own self be true – I led you to believe that there would be an inspiring assembly based on that maxim and I’ve undercut all the mechanics and told you what’s really going on there. I’ve not addressed the purpose of it, though. Shakespeare may have crafted a beautiful line there, but perhaps he also crafted a true on. Well, with apologies both to Chesney Hawkes and Michelle Obama I don’t think so – putting yourself above all others is selfishness however authentic you might feel it is. I don’t think you should live a lie, pretend to be something you’re not, but I would argue that a lot of the time our responsibilities to each other, to be kind, supportive, constructive should come above that self-actualisation. I would argue, though, is the point – this is a question of purpose: it’s a debate, a discussion. You don’t have to agree with me but to disagree intelligently you need to have learned some mechanics, reflected on some purpose: part of what makes learning amazing is that it enables you to be part of those arguments – and learning, mechanics and purpose, is amazing.
Footnotes
1. Nik Kershaw has been credited for The One and Only in Frail Thrushes
2. Shakespeare may be quoted passim, but this seems to be Hamlet's first appearance.
3. Tagore is also a favourite poet - appearing in Amar Sonar Bangla and The Orb of Life
4. The balance between Mechanics and Purpose across the two years of Harris Westminster is discussed in I Got Rhythm