Of Love
...n heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept.” Bacon’s point of view is directly stated in the essay. It says, “By how much the more, men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself!” What Bacon is trying to say is that mankind needs to be aware of the powers of love. The key problem that Bacon addresses is that people may think that because they possess certain characteristics that love cannot affect them or they think they have some sort of control over it. Bacon wants his readers to understand that love is does not respect character. No matter who you are or who you think you are love will affect you one way or another throughout your lifetime. The thesis of the essay is stated clearly in the first sentence of the first paragraph. Bacon states, “You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient of recent) there is not one, that hath been transported to the mad degree of love: which shows that great spirits, and great business, do keep out this weak passion.” One key passage in the essay states, “This passion hath his floods, in very times of weakness; which are great prosperity, and great adversity; though this latter hath been less observed: both which times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of folly. Bacon tries to explain here that love affects whether in good or bad times. Bacon also wants his reader to understand to keep love in its place instead of letting it rule other aspects of life. The essay’s example of this is the key passage, “They do best, who if thy cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarters; and sever it wholly from their serious affairs, and actions, of life; for if it check once with business, it troubleth men’s fortunes, and maketh men, that they can no ways be true to their own ends.” There was no point in this essay that I could predict its organization. The organization is confusing because of the difficulty of the language. Bacon’s essay is written in the form of one big paragraph, so there are no signals to new sections of the essay. Bacon speaks on the same topic throughout the entire essay. He uses descriptions of other people’s experiences as evidence as well as to support the thesis. Bacon’s tone in the essay is preachy. It is like that of a sermon because he uses examples for you to follow. If you cannot control your love or passions then keep love in its place. Don’t let your love effect or control the aspects of life that it doesn’t need to effect. The sentences and the vocabulary are very difficult. Words like, austere and reciproque are used. These are obviously not everyday used words. Understanding the vocabulary makes understanding the entire essay easy. The key word that is recurred throughout the entire essay is the word love. Before the essay even begins a side note that Bacon has is, “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 fury.” Here, Bacon is trying to get across that love goes through many different stages in life. Bacon sta...