Coming from Polonius, this advice to be true to oneself is pompous, hypocritical, and empty. It is a tribute to Shakespeare that he can produce a speech that is quoted for four hundred years as definitive wisdom about human behaviour although it comes from a character who is a disreputable and hypocritical empty vessel.
To Thine Own Self
At dinner, Talur posits that Data's strength is something he shares with all Icemen from the Vellorian Mountains, that they have to use their strength to fight off the wild beasts that roam the mountains. Data pushes that claim, saying she also said no one has ever seen one of these creatures. Then, Garvin finds himself feeling tired; Talur tells him to take a walk and get some fresh air to feel better. When he's gone, Gia notes that Data didn't eat, asking if the food was not to his liking, which Data denies, commenting that he simply didn't have an appetite. Gia comments that her father's cooking isn't as good as her mother's, revealing she has died. She tells Data that her father says she went to a place where no one gets hurt or sick, and everyone loves each other. Gia asks Data if he thinks a place like that truly exists. Data looks out the window towards the stars and states that he is certain it does.
Data constructs the equipment he needs, including a five-hundred power magnifying glass and a fluorescent screen. He studies cell samples from both Garvin and Gia, who also has started to show symptoms of radiation sickness. Talur comes with suggestions, that maybe Data is the one to have brought the sickness to the village, but it is only after Data has examined a pendant of Gia's more closely that he comes up with the cause for the villagers' sudden illness. The pendant was made by Skoran from the radioactive metal, and a large piece of the metal is the pendant itself. This also explains why the blacksmith has fallen ill as well.
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Polonius: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.Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!Laertes:Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
"To thine own self be true" is Polonius's last piece of advice to his son Laertes, who is in a hurry to get on the next boat to Paris, where he'll be safe from his father's long-winded speeches [see NEITHER A BORROWER NOR A LENDER BE].
Polonius has in mind something much more Elizabethan than the New Age self-knowledge that the phrase now suggests. As Polonius sees it, borrowing money, loaning money, carousing with women of dubious character, and other intemperate pursuits are "false" to the self. By "false" Polonius seems to mean "disadvantageous" or "detrimental to your image"; by "true" he means "loyal to your own best interests." Take care of yourself first, he counsels, and that way you'll be in a position to take care of others. There is wisdom in the old man's warnings, of course; but he repeats orthodox platitudes with unwonted self-satisfaction. Polonius, who is deeply impressed with his wordliness, has perfected the arts of protecting his interests and of projecting seeming virtues, his method of being "true" to others. Never mind that this includes spying on Hamlet for King Claudius. Never mind, as well, that many of Polonius's haughty, if not trite, kernels of wisdom are now taken as Shakespeare's own wise pronouncements on living a proper life.
The quote is one of the best-known excerpts from the play, and one of the most commonly used today. But, it reveals a great deal more about the character who speaks it, Polonius, than comes through in contemporary contexts. Polonius is a scheming, backstabbing, hypocritical character who eavesdrops and gets himself killed. He provides his son with the advice included in the long monologue below but does not follow it himself.
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 the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.
One of the requirements in the Dutch regulation for euthanasia and assisted suicide is that the doctor must be satisfied 'that the patient's suffering is unbearable, and that there is no prospect of improvement.' In the notorious Chabot case, a psychiatrist assisted a 50 year old woman in suicide, although she did not suffer from any somatic disease, nor strictly speaking from any psychiatric condition. In Seduced by Death, Herbert Hendin concluded that apparently the Dutch regulation now allows physicians to assist anyone in suicide simply because he or she is unhappy. In this paper, I reject Hendin's conclusion and in particular his description of Mrs Boomsma as someone who was 'simply unhappy.' After a detailed narration of her lifestory, I turn to the American philosopher Harry Frankfurt's account of volitional incapacity and love for a more accurate characterization of her suffering. Having been through what she had, she could only go on living as another person than the one she had been when she was a happy mother. That would have violated her integrity, and that she could not bring herself to do.
In this study, we investigated how in the decision to act on an opportunity individuals' images of self impact their images of opportunity. In doing so, we extend previous research examining images of opportunity (e.g., Baron and Ensley, 2006) by introducing two types of images of self: those relating to vulnerability and those relating to capability. In the following paragraphs, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications, as well as the limitations of our findings.
(nightshift, with 'Captain' Crusher in command) CRUSHER: Send a message to Commander Data and inform him of our delay. RAINER: Aye, sir. (Troi enters) CRUSHER: Deanna, welcome back. TROI: Thank you. I was just reporting in. I didn't expect to findanyone up except Data. CRUSHER: Data's away on assignment. A Federation deep space probe wentoff course and crashed on Barkon Four. Some of the material in thecasing was radioactive, so Data was sent to recover it before it couldcontaminate the biosphere. TROI: Isn't Barkon Four inhabited? CRUSHER: Yes, it's a pre-industrial society, but the probe crashed overa hundred kilometres from the nearest settlement so Data shouldn't haveany contact with the Barkonians. So, how was the reunion? TROI: Fine. It was good to see some old friends. I'd lost touch withmost of them. It's interesting to see the different paths some of theirlives have taken. Beverly, you don't usually stand a watch on theBridge even when Data's not here. CRUSHER: I volunteered tonight. I like to put in a little Bridge timenow and then, stay on top of operations, tactical procedures. The truthis, I like it. It's not every doctor who gets to command a starship,even if it is the night shift. TROI: May I ask you a personal question? Why did you decide to become aCommander? I mean, you didn't need the rank in order to be ChiefMedical Officer, so why put yourself through all the extra work? CRUSHER: Oh, I don't know. I never even thought about my rank for along time. It seemed pretty trivial compared to being a doctor. Butthen, about eight years ago, I started to feel like I wanted to stretchmyself a little. RAINER: Commander, there's no response from Commander Data to oursignal. CRUSHER: Continue sending him updates on our schedule. RAINER: Aye, sir. TROI: Is something wrong? CRUSHER: No. I wanted to let Data know there'd be a delay in pickinghim up for a few of days. We have orders to rendezvous with theLexington and take some medical supplies to the Taranko Colony. TROI: But he's not responding. CRUSHER: Geordi said that the radiation from the probe might interferewith communications. I just thought I'd try anyway.
(Riker is practising his trombone when Troi strollsin. He finishes the piece and then blows two notes) TROI: Is that supposed to be a question? (parp parp) TROI: Because if you're asking me if I liked what you were playing,then the answer is yes. (paarp parp) TROI: You know, this is a much better way of communicating for you.It's far less confusing than the way you normally speak. (parp!) RIKER: I knew I could count on my Imzadi, the ship's Counsellor toboost my self-image. TROI: I'm glad to be of service. RIKER: Did you come here for something in particular, or just generalRiker bashing? TROI: Actually I wanted to ask your opinion about something. I've beenthinking about taking the Bridge Officer's test and becoming a fullCommander. RIKER: What brought this up? TROI: A lot of things. Working on the personnel review last month,talking with Beverly about her experiences, going to my class reunion. RIKER: Ah, the class reunion. You saw a few old friends who had alreadytaken the test? TROI: All right, I admit it was a catalyst. But I can honestly say thatI've been thinking about this off and on over the past two years. RIKER: Why the past two years? TROI: Do you remember when the Enterprise hit that quantum filament andI was in command on the Bridge? RIKER: I do. TROI: Well, when that happened, I was overwhelmed. But when it was overI realised that a part of me missed it.Not the actual disaster, but the experience of being in command. I feltlike I was exploring a whole new side of myself. Not that I want togive up counselling by any means, but I really would like to stretchmyself a little. RIKER: Deanna, if you take the Bridge Officer's test, you'll have mycomplete support. But as First Officer, I'll be the one judging yourperformance, and you should know I am a pretty tough judge. TROI: And I'm a pretty good student. RIKER: We'll start tomorrow morning, oh eight hundred hours. 2ff7e9595c
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