Sunday, May 1, 2011

Promus - 12 Romeo and Juliet - a soul of lead can't dance

Part 2 - Parallels between Bacon's Promus and Romeo and Juliet
(with special emphasis on Promus Folio 112)

Part 2f

R&J  1.4.14-16

(The Capulet Ball is starting. Mercutio urges Romeo to dance):

Romeo:  Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
             With nimble soles, I have a soul of lead
             So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.

Bacon's Promus entry 580 (from Folio 94B):

"Assaj ben balla a chi fortuna suona" ["He dances well to whom fortune plays a tune"]

Comment: Fortune is not playing Romeo a tune because Rosaline has rejected his love.

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R&J  1.5.45

"As a rich jewel in a Ethiop's ear"


Bacon's Promus entry 687 (in Folio 97F):

"A ring of gold on a swine's snout" [from Proverbs XI 22].

Comment: A similar idea.

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R&J  Act 2 Prologue 1

"Now old desire doth in his death bed lie" [i.e. Romeo's desire for Rosaline]

Bacon's Promus entry 1472 (from Folio 130):

"Il commence bien a mourir qui abandonne son desir" ["He who abandons his desire begins to die"]

Comment: A different thought from the Shake-Speare line but both deal with the death of desire.


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