Francis Bacon's Special Use of Drama

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a time when men wrote Chronicles and Histories. Two names come to mind in this connection - Raleigh with his History of the World and Francis Bacon with no fewer than four. These he called History of Henry VII, A Natural History, A History of the Winds and A History of Life and Death. In the latter he discussed the workings of the human body in life and health and in sickness and death, noting the sequence of various processes.

I suggest that he wrote yet another History through the medium of plays by using the pseudonym of Shake-speare, and that these famous plays, although not often thought of as such, are really a history of the Microcosm or evolution of Man's nature, mind and soul. Each play emphasises a different aspect of this History: nevertheless, we are shown the inner workings of humanity's thoughts and feelings. Through the course of the play, in the guise of various characters, we are shown how they can be changed, developed and cultivated, and the effects of this metamorphosis. Certain Cosmic laws and principles which affect man's destiny and evolution are also woven into the fabric of each play.

Nowadays people go to the theatre for the sole purpose of being entertained, but in previous centuries this was not always the case. The ancient concept of the use of drama was that it should 'instruct the minds of men unto virtue' in order to develop the mind and raise the level of consciousness, rather than merely gratify the lower senses. They maintained that knowledge of cosmic principles and divine laws would help to combat humanity's prejudices, ignorant superstitions, sin, the weakness of man, and lift him gradually from the lower level of a brute towards the attainment of an angelic nature. Francis Bacon, writing in the 17th century, observed that in his day stage plays were mostly used as a pastime, but that the ancient philosophers regarded drama as an opportunity to teach and uplift people.

Drammaticall or Representative Poesy which brings the world upon the stage, is of excellent use if it were not abused. For the instructions and Corruptions of the stage may be great; but the corruptions in this kind abound, the Discipline is altogether neglected in our times. For although in modern Commonwealths, Stage-plaies be but estimed a sport or pastime….. the care of the Ancients was that it should instruct the minds of men unto virtue. Nay, wise men and great Philosophers have accounted it as the Archet or musical bow of the mind.

The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Bk II Ch 13

Bacon also maintained that before improvement could be affected in any person, situation, or policy, the individual components within that whole must be carefully analysed before it could be altered for the better. Therefore if a man wanted to change certain characteristics within his nature which were troublesome, he would need to know which of his emotions, habitual thoughts or prejudices it was necessary to alter in order to bring about the required improvement. Drama could be used as a useful and yet enjoyable means of helping people to analyse the different types of nature and the various characteristics - good and bad - which exist in mankind at large. I think it is just this type of analysis which has been carefully woven into the Shakespeare plays.

Probably the most outstanding feature of these dramas is the way in which soliloquies form such an integral part of their structure. What is the main function of these soliloquies? Surely to enable the audience to see at work the entire process of the minds of the principal characters from the beginning to the end. In addition, woven into the fabric of these comedies, tragedies, histories, we have painted forth 'with great life and dissected, how affections are kindled and excited, and how pacified and restrained.' Bacon writes:

Let a full and careful treatise be constructed. Not, however, that I would have their characters presented in ethics (as we find them in history, or poetry, or even in common discourse) in the shape of complete individual portraits, but rather the several features and simple lineaments of which they are composed, and by the various combinations and arrangements of which all characters whatever are made up, showing how many, and of what nature these are, and how connected and subordinated one to another; that so we may have a scientific and accurate dissection of minds and characters, and the secret dispositions of particular men may be revealed; and that from a knowledge thereof better rules may be framed for the treatment of the mind. And not only should the characters of dispositions of which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity, and the like; and again, those which are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity and the like…….

But to speak the truth the poets and writers of history are the best doctors of this knowledge, where we may find painted forth with great life and dissected, how affections are kindled and excited, and how pacified and restrained, and how again contained from act and further degree; and how they disclose themselves, though repressed and concealed; how they work; how they vary; how they are enwrapped one within another; and how they fight and encounter one with another; and many more particulars of this kind; amongst which this last is of special use in moral and civil matters…………
De Augmentis Ch 3 Bk VII

Being a lawyer and a philosopher it was a habit of Francis Bacon to observe and consider a man's character, noting the varying qualities inherent in the personality, or to analyse the various circumstances of life, pinpointing the deficiencies as well as the good points. Nevertheless being at heart a philanthropist with a desire to help mankind at large and not just his friends or colleagues, he always strove to ameliorate social wrongs or prejudices by supplying that which he considered to be deficient. Therefore if he said, 'Let a full and careful treatise be constructed', we know full well that he would have made the effort to produce such a treatise. He did it is true, write at large on the cultivation of the mind which he regarded as an important requisite towards the evolution of each soul, but he specified that it should be 'shown forth' visibly and actually. 'I do not speak of these precepts and rules by way of illustration…..but I mean actual types and models…..should be set before the eyes'. He must, without a shadow of doubt, have been talking about plays or masques, for there was no other way in his day in which such a treatise could have been made into a visible representation and this treatise being so large in scope could not have been accomplished in one or two masques, but needed a series of plays incorporating comedy, tragedy and history, and in the 'Shakespeare' plays we have this vast scheme realised.

On reflection we can see that in these passages Bacon must have been following a characteristic policy of concealing and revealing his ideas and intentions concurrently. The first passage is a most comprehensive analysis, and in this sense he was revealing much. Yet, on the other hand, he must also have been concealing quite a lot but at the same time giving us a broad hint writing in open argument as Francis Bacon, he states that in his opinion such a treatise should be constructed, and yet he must have known that many years earlier than the publication of the De Augmentis Scientiarum he had in fact supplied the deficiency which he noted, not only by constructing the treatise but by seeing to it that it could be 'set before the eyes' which he advocated. This he accomplished by using the pseudonym of Shake-speare. It could be said that he, himself, was acting as a dissimulator, which he wrote about in his well-known essay 'Of Simulation and Dissimulation'. 'There be three degrees of this hiding or veiling of a man's self,' he tells us. The first is 'Secrecy', the second 'Dissimulation in the Negative' and the third 'Simulation in the Affirmative'. He is fully aware that there are times when he must resort to this practice of secrecy for the sake of self-protection and of safeguarding a difficult project. As he said in his essay: 'He that would be secret must be a dissembler in some degree.'

In the passage from his De Augmentis concerning the treatise, by pretending that it had not yet been written he was dissembling to his contemporaries. By so doing he must have felt fairly confident that the majority of people would not guess that the project he was describing so carefully had already been set in motion. Calling it a treatise and writing of it in a philosophical book would be likely to provide a sufficient smokescreen. And this it did do both in his day and in later centuries. Nevertheless, the more cleverly he hid the secret, the more difficult would it be to ensure that men in later generations would get the full impact of his message. This, surely, must have been one of his dilemmas he could do no more than rely on our willingness to play the game of hide-and-seek with him; he had done the hiding, we must do the seeking.

Not only does this quotation lead us to realise that in the 'Shakespeare' Plays we really do have this treatise 'set forth before the eyes', but it also indicates his intention of supplying a History of the Microcosm, and of showing us the possible metamorphosis to higher levels of expression of the mind and emotions of humanity. I suggest this was part of the motive and plan for writing the plays, and from the descriptive analysis of the 'various combinations and arrangements' of which human nature is composed, discussed in the Bacon quotation, we are intended to recognise the educative function of this scheme at one level, although, at another level, it is purely for pleasure and entertainment.

Francis made another very penetrating observation which has a close bearing on our present theme when he wrote in his book The Proficience and Advancement of Learning:

'…….learning ministreth in every one of them greater strength of medicine or remedy than it offereth cause of indisposition or infirmity……. And these medicines it conveyeth into men's minds much more forcibly by the quickness and penetration of examples.'

It is clear to see that here, too, he is intimating that a particular kind of learning can be analogous to medicine. He also tells us that 'the poets and writers of history are the best doctors of this knowledge.' In a speech in As You Like It Jacques mentions the medicine which he could offer to mankind. He also recognises the infection and disease from which the world is suffering.

Invest me in my motley, give me leave to speak my mind, and I will through and through cleanse the foul body of the infected world if they will patiently receive my medicine.

By showing men a visible representation of the various foibles, prejudices, emotional and mental weaknesses which are present within human nature, each one having a collection of faults and virtues which are individual to that person alone, each member of the audience can become aware of their existence in a general way first. Then he can follow on, if he has the will and inclination so to do, to decide which errors and virtues lie buried within his own nature, and set about making the effort to maintain the virtues, nourishing them like rare and beautiful plants, and trying to change the weaknesses. When, ultimately, everyone has been able to get changes in his personality which will bring harmony our of discord in his inner world of feelings and thoughts, he will have administered his own medicine.

The precept 'Life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together' applies to man's nature as well as to the circumstances of his life, and if he can constantly aspire to overcome the difficulties with patience, fortitude and forgiveness, he will gradually transform the shadows into light, ignorance into knowledge, by increasing the ratio of light, goodness, truth and wisdom until ultimately they become the dominant aspects in his nature. At that point he will have become wiser and happier because he will have come through the 'woods of experience', as Francis Bacon puts it, and reached 'the open ground of axioms'. In other words, he will have arrived at the stage when he can draw helpful conclusions from his experiences and tests, within himself as well as in his life.

This concept of knowledge of an educative, cultural, moral and spiritual nature serving as medicine which could raise men to a better state of consciousness, leading them to wider and higher vistas of thought and understanding, was the new philosophy which attracted men like Francis and Anthony Bacon, Heinrich Julius, Duke of Brunswick, and others. It is obvious that the author of the Shakespeare plays held the same view concerning the new medicine, but realising that many people might resent such a motive, the suggestion of moral and educative intentions seeming distasteful to them, he knew that the best way of getting men to swallow the medicine was by first sugaring the pill to make it more palatable. The poetry, wit, humour and beauty introduced into the plays achieves this end, does it not!

Thus we realise that these dramas fulfil two functions simultaneously - that of entertainment and that of instruction. For those who seek no more, these can remain at the level of pleasure and entertainment and fulfil all requirements sought, men's eyes, ears and senses being fully satisfied. But for those wishing to delve into the sacred arts and sciences they will also find that for which they seek, for these deeper levels of thought are also present, and they may be perceived in performance and even more through careful study of the Folio itself. Its author, Francis Bacon, was indeed a man with great vision and depth of understanding covering a wide variety of subjects, including the Christian Mystery Teachings although these are not often detected by the majority of readers.

With the religious intolerance which still prevailed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was highly dangerous for any author to air his religions views unless they were strictly in accord with the orthodox views of the Church. Any aspects of spiritual truths which were embraced by the ancient mystery Schools, if they were openly discussed, would promptly be termed heretical and the author would be most severely punished - even killed. Therefore any writer with such beliefs would be forced to conceal them by employing one of the various modes of concealment used at that time thus, he could either write his text ambiguously, using the veil of enigma, or he could use a cipher system - a method of obscuration much in use in Tudor and Jacobean days: or he could choose the specialised art of symbolism. This could be expressed in the text either in the form of a parable, allegory or fable, or it could appear in certain passages where special key words would serve as ideographs. Symbolism was also much employed in the figurative title-pages, headlines and tail-pieces. Here, it could act as a silent language to the trained eye and mind of the initiated. To the uninitiated, general reader, however, the symbolism would not be recognised and the emblems would seem to be mere decorations of no special significance.

Much insight into 'Shakespeare's' characters can be gleaned from reading Bacon's Moral Essays. That he was thinking of the stage we can see in the opening statement of his essay Of Love, and it is a good example of a cross reference.

The stage is more beholding to love that the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief - sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury…… It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value of things; by this that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love ……They do best whom, if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarter, and sever it wholly from their serious affairs and actions of life………
Essays of Love

Reflecting on the 'Shakespeare' plays we can recognise that the passion of love its varying degrees, and the way it affects different people in different ways, commented upon in the Bacon essay, are shown forth in visible representation in the plays of Shakespeare; mostly in the comedies but also in two of the tragedies, as Bacon himself points out. Hotspur, Brutus, Julius Caesar and Coriolanus keep down this passion, and "sever it wholly from their serious affairs". Troilus and Romeo, the King of Navarre and his courtiers, exhibit the hyperbole of love. Valentine and Proteus admit that the weak passion has befooled them. The siren power of love is demonstrated by Cleopatra, while Othello and Hamlet show its fury when it is "transported to the mad degree".

People of today might think it rather strange of Bacon to have chosen the subject of simulation and dissimulation on which to write an essay, but remembering the dangerous times in which he lived, some of the unorthodox views which he held, and that dramatists were held in contempt, it is not surprising to find that he was acquainted with the need for and the various modes of secrecy. Furthermore, the fact that there are innumerable parallels between his essay and the tragedy of Hamlet again suggests the use of cross references. Edwin Bormann in his book, 'Francis Bacon's Cryptic Rhymes' discusses this point well:

"Viewed from the manner in which each person in 'Hamlet' behaves towards the other, that play might straightway be called the tragedy of 'closeness, dissimulation and simulation'. With the exception of Laertes and Ophelia they each have some secret to keep, i.e., the first act is simply one succession of admonitions from the prince to his friends how each is to behave if the secret is to be guarded. King Claudius (the close, the reserved one), is a dissimulator, he dissembles in a negative sense, he has committed fratricide, which crime he conceals by his words and whole demeanour. Prince Hamlet himself is the greatest simulator the stage has ever witnessed, he pretends to be what he is not, mad. He practises the art of dissembling in a positive sense. Ophelia is the chaste one, reserved in all she does and says. Thus we see the three grades of 'Hiding' and their extreme opposites in 'Hamlet' and in the Essay.

Bacon goes on to discuss three advantages afforded by simulation and dissimulation, and three disadvantages. All these three advantages, and these three disadvantages are represented in 'Hamlet' in the same order of succession as in the Essay."

That Bacon was well acquainted with Roman history is apparent in the relationship of the Royal Family shown in the play of Hamlet and referred to in the Essay. The essay names the Roman Emperor, Augustus, and his step-son, Tiberius, and points out that although the one was a dissimulator and the other a simulator the wife of the Emperor and mother of Tiberius did not object to the cunning practised by her husband and son. The same occurs in Hamlet. We note that King Claudius and his step-son, Hamlet, practise dissimulation and simulation respectively, and Queen Gertrude, the wife of the one and mother of the other, loves them both. Similarly in Hamlet, King Claudius had murdered her first husband in order to marry her, just as the Emperor Augustus had done to his wife's first husband. Finally, two of the names coincide for Tiberius' full name was Tiberius Claudius. Thus a Claudius family is named in the Shakespeare play and in Bacon's essay though in a remarkably subtle way, and each of the three people is related to each other in exactly the same manner.

Peter Dawkins, in his book Building Paradise reminds us that Richard III was written in 1591 and first performed in 1592. he then adds some valuable remarks and insights. He says:

"One of Francis' main endeavours in his work was not only to study human nature and raise the level of people's consciousness, but to improve people's moral behaviour and purge corruption in high places. His ideal was to discover truth and practise philanthropy; and like the Ancients, to teach wisdom through entertainment. One of the main points about the Shakespeare plays is that they hold a mirror up to human nature, so that both good and bad might be seen for what they are and what they do. Each character in the play embodies qualities and characteristics drawn from real life. …it was Essex's character that was used as the model for the fiery, gallant Hotspur in Henry IV about which Essex complained to the Queen, saying that Francis and Anthony Bacon 'print me and make me speak to the world, and shortly they will play me in whatever form they list upon the stage'.
Chapter 1: 'Building Paradise' - Peter Dawkins

There is a passage in Bacon's De Augmentis which refers to the faculties of Will and Reason and the important function of imagination and divine illumination. Bacon tells us that 'the understanding of man and his will are twins by birth, for purity of illumination and his will began and fell together'.

It has bee suggested that Bacon may have been hinting at this idea by bringing twins into the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night and that in Viola we may see a representation of Will, goodwill, liberty of the Will, and in Sebastian that of reason who is attracted to Order, wisdom, beauty, or Olivia as she is called in the play.

In his book, The Wisdom of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, Peter Dawkins describes Sebastian as a saviour who protects his sister from harm. He is of the opinion that

Wisdom and Intelligence are the polarities of Power: they are the divine twins…Sebastian demonstrates in particular the wisdom and will aspect of life, and she (Viola) the intelligence and understanding.

P 175 'The Wisdom of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night' Peter Dawkins

Those of you who are acquainted with Bacon's writings will know how often he refers to opposites or contraries. So if one character personifies the epitome of good will then there is likely to be a reference to ill will, and sure enough in the play there is a character called Malvolio, ill will. Peter Dawkins points out the ill will and self-love go hand in hand with the opposite of goodwill and universal love. Bacon and Shakespeare took great pains to choose appropriate names and Malvolio and Olivia are examples of this care, ingenuity and specialised knowledge.

I think these examples point to the fact that Bacon recognised that in the Shakespeare plays he had the opportunity to show in various ways that there was a reflection of ideas discussed in quite a number of his Essays which are shown forth in the plays.

If he did want to do this then no wonder he chose to write Civil and Moral Essays, for this category could include aspects of character delineation. Both the essays of Bacon and the plays of Shakespeare show that the author was a keen observer of human nature and human affairs as well as a disguised poet.

It is interesting to note that a series of plays reflecting the history of human nature would quite naturally be divided into history, comedy, tragedy, for such is the weft and warp of the life of Everyman and Woman. I think it is not by chance that the plays do indeed fall into these categories for they were, without doubt, conceived as a comprehensive whole. Only if the entire collection of plays were printed all together would this all-embracing theme be highlighted, for the benefit of posterity, allowing Bacon to use drama in this special way.