-35-
5) There are only two instances in
the First Folio of the number 33 being written out as part of the text. One is
in the previous example from The Comedy
of Errors. The other instance of the number 33 in the plays is in The
Tragedie of Julius Caesar and it also
stands out to us. I think I first learned of it in one of Peter Dawkin’s
writings. Here in Act 5, Scene 1 (Folio pg. 127 of the Tragedies) is mentioned
“Caesars three and thirtie wounds”. Though there is no other
significant number associated with this instance (that I've noticed), what makes it stand out is
the seeming excessive distortion from the historical number of 23 wounds Caesar
received. There may be some other reason (than as a Bacon cipher) the playwright would choose to use 33
instead of 23, but it does seem odd since that if one were writing a play with
a mind to stage it in a practical way for the actors, that a smaller number
rather than a larger would be used. Has this play ever been staged with Caesar
receiving 33 stabbings?
As mentioned,
the written number of ‘thirty three’ or ‘three and thirty’ is only used in
these two instances above. There are other instances of similar numbers, such
as “two and thirty” or “five and thirty”. But none of them that I’ve examined
have similar peculiarities to them. This can be searched here:
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