Summary
Notable moral essays include "Of Revenge," "Of Envy," "Of Love," Of Truth," and "Of Goodness and Goodness in Nature."
In "Of Revenge," Bacon says that revenge is a natural inclination for man, but that does not mean that the law should allow it. Instead, the more vengeful men become, the more involved the law should be in combatting pursuits of revenge.
Bacon explains that in seeking revenge, one may become even with his enemy, but in bypassing revenge, he becomes superior to his enemy.
In "Of Envy," Bacon suggests that the two most powerful human emotions are love and envy, as they both have the power to "bewitch "(354). He says that only men who have no virtue themselves will be eternally envious of others. Accordingly, those with superior virtue are often the subjects of envy.
In "Of Love," Bacon argues that the theatre is a better home to portrayals of love, as love often appears in lighthearted comedies. In life, by contrast, love can cause "mischief" and pain (358). Bacon explains that revered figures from history remained unaffected by love and desire, which he describes as a "weak passion" that corrupts virtuous hearts (358).
In "Of Truth," Bacon admits that truth is perplexing, evasive, and often unpalatable. He says that truth may be valued at the price of a pearl, but that it will never be valued at the price of a diamond – meaning that while men aspire to know the truth, it never offers as much pleasure as "a mixture of a lie" (341).
In "Of Goodness and Goodness in Nature," Bacon argues that there are two types of goodness: goodness of habit, and goodness in nature. The latter Bacon defines as the inclination toward goodness, while the former is learned goodness that one observes in society. Goodness stems directly from the virtue of charity, and Bacon argues that without goodness, man is a "busy, mischievous, wretched thing" (363).
Analysis
Bacon's moral essays are similar to his civil essays, in that he offers general conclusions about human ethics and encourages his readers to pursue a virtuous, Christian life. Most of Bacon's aphoristic quotations come from his moral essays, as he reflects on the nature of man's folly with an eye toward offering a better path. Crucially, many of Bacon's moralisms in these essays were also being explored in other early modern literature and culture – most significantly on the Renaissance stage.
The revenge tragedy became an important and recurring genre during this time period, producing such celebrated plays as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (credited as being the first revenge tragedy), Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy. In these plays, revenge is the central motivation for characters to act, but revenge is also presented as paralyzing, maddening, and ultimately fruitless (in all these plays, the main character dies).
These plots are in many ways dramatizations of Bacon's own assertion that exacting revenge puts one on equal footing with their enemy, but declining the impulse for revenge elevates one to a higher and more virtuous status (of course, the characters in these plays never experience the latter, therein providing their own moral).
Indeed, Bacon continues to rely on theatrical metaphors throughout his moral essays. While some might argue that this interest can serve as evidence that Bacon was a closeted playwright (or even the "real" William Shakespeare), it is more likely that these metaphors simply underscore the extent to which theater had taken hold over early modern England. The theater was a popular genre of entertainment, and was at the time mostly considered a "low-brow" enterprise for the masses. Thus, when Bacon moralizes that love is best meant for the theater, he offers a critique both of love – claiming it is merely a passion that destroys weak men – and the theater, which he perhaps saw as more apt to handle lighthearted entertainment than serious questions of ethics and philosophy.
Now, of course, readers often turn to early modern drama precisely for insight into Renaissance philosophy, showcasing how much Bacon shared in common with the genre of literature he purported to find insufficient for tackling questions of human knowledge.
