Sunday, May 1, 2011

Promus - 27 Romeo and Juliet

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

Part 2U

R&J  Act 3.5 69 & 78

Lady Capulet (to Juliet):

"Evermore weeping for thy cousin's death?
.....
Well, girl, thou weepst not so much for his death
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him."


Bacon's Promus entry 799 (Folio 99B):

"Hinc illae lacrimae" ["The real cause of these tears is"; from Adagia 122]

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R&J  Act 3.5.168-71

(Lord Capulet curses Juliet for her reluctance to marry Count Paris:)

Nurse:   God in heaven bless her.
             You are to blame, my Lord, to rate her so.
Capulet: And why, my Lady Wisdom? Hold your tongue,
             Good Prudence! Smatter with your gossips, go.

Bacon's Promus entry 228 (Folio 88):

"Prudens celat scientiam, stultus proclamat stultitiam" ["The prudent man
concealeth knowledge; but the fool proclaimeth his folly
"; from Proverbs xii 23]

Comment: In making Capulet address the Nurse sarcastically as Lady Wisdom and Good Prudence, Shake-Speare probably had the biblical proverb in mind. [Note: Compare also 3 Henry VI 4.7.61: "Tis wisdom to conceal our meaning"; and Troilus and Cresida 2.1.25: "Thou art a proclaimed fool".]


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