Good question. First, it could be that in the page's context, "Yourself" means the part of your personality with specific likes and dislikes, not the one that is relative to someone else and changes according to their whims. The 2nd part, the "shy and not social at all", i get what you mean, someone who embraces their flaws and refuses to change them cause they are part of themselves. That's why this trope can sometimes be played in a bad way, as said on the page, conveying the message "never strive to improve yourself", though of course, one should have part of themselves that strives for improvement and which acknowledges some traits as bad and wants to rid itself of them.
The Page quote from the bible seems rather unrelated to the main idea. I mean, the trope is about a being striving to be their own master, shaping their own life the way they see true to who they are, and being true to their principles. The biblical quote doesn't relay any of these ideas, it talks about how a deity carved a human being with great detail, but nothing on the destiny of one, even less on a destiny that person chooses to embark towards themselves (in this case, the deity apparently pulls the strings of the mortal's present and future). Also, it seems there isn't a religion section in which that quote is explained. Should the page quote be changed?
Anybody knows the first example of this trope which was using those exact words?
Oh, and if Shakespeare's example really is the oldest one (seems so), note that the guy stating it (Polonius) is an Upper-Class Twit, so it's actually a subversion. So, Unbuilt Trope?
Fuhrmann, es kostet dir noch dein Leben
I didn't want to put this in because I'm not entirely sure about it... but isn't the whole idea paradoxical, because if "yourself" is somebody who represses their interests to become more popular, then wouldn't pursuing those interests would be *not* being yourself? That's a common scenario in this type of moral. Similarly, if "yourself" is somebody who acts shy around crushes and squishes, then acting normal would be not being yourself. Just some thoughts.
Edited by Glitchunter Hide / Show Replies