A person who differentiates between wrong and right is called as a moralist and incite the people to do the right things only. Bacon is not a true moralist and his morality is a saleable morality. He is a moralist-cum-worldly wise man. Hence, bacon preaches high morality and principals and founded valuable guidelines for human conduct. In some essays Bacon represent himself as a true lover and preacher of high ethical codes and conducts. For example, in his essay “Of Envy”, he says:
“A man
that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others.”
In his essay
“Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature” he says:
“But in
charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it.”
Again, he represents
himself to be a lover of justice in his essay “Of Judicature”:
“The principal
duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud.”
In spite of
all the above examples. We daresay that Bacon was a man of “Renaissance”. He had
a deep and shrewd insight in human nature. He knew that man is naturally tends
more to the evil than to the good one. Bacon was a clear-eyed realist who saw very
well the weakness in human nature and drawbacks of human conduct and also knew
that man in general is not capable of entertaining and acting according to high
or noble set of ‘ideas. Though Bacon’s morality was greater than that of
average men, yet it was not of the highest order. A according to him the good
and right things are important but when the situation proved too costly his statement
also changed. On one hand, he preaches high
moral principles and, on the hand, he also expresses certainly a mean and
shrewd capacity by compromising upon those morals for the sake of worldly
success. For this reason, a spiritual poet William Blake, says about his essays;
“Good advice
for Satan’s Kingdom.”
Blake considers
any utilitarian advice to be contrary to God’s ways, but Bacon’s indeed, does
not bother for that. He considers his world to be more important and striving,
and the success in this world is equally important. Bacon talked about the man
as he “appears” and not as he “ought to appear”.
In his essay
“Of Great Place” Bacon shows a high morality and condemns the people who
practice ‘Wrongs’ on their high official level.
“In place
there is license to do good and evil; where of the latter is a curse.”
Afterwards he
raises the value the power of doing good,
“But
power to do good, is true and lawful end of aspiring”.
In spite of
all these moral approaches, he also supports the disloyal means to reach a high
destination.
“It is
good to side a man’s self-whilst he is in the rising and to balance himself
when he is placed”.
So, like a
moralist, Bacon preaches the good values of great place, and in this way his useful
approach comes in front of us with all its power.
In his essay
“Of Truth” he appears to be a genuine admirer of truth and seems to install the
love of truth in his readers.
“It is
heaven upon earth, to have man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence and
turn upon the poles of truth.”
He also
points out that falsehood is like an alloy made of gold and silver, which makes
the metal work better even though it reduces the value of the metal. He says:
“A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure”
And then by
putting this, he has diluted all the effect of those words which he has said in
the praise of the truth. One can find the same strange mixture of high ethics
and utilitarianism in the essay “Of Revenge”. Bacon criticizes the revenge by
saying:
“Revenge
is a kind of wild justice.”
And
“One who
studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green.”
He says that
there is no place of revenge in any high society and that it is a high quality
to forgive one’s enemy. Bacon rather spoils the effects by putting that is some
cases, man is justified in taking revenge, if the avenger can save his skin
from the eyes of the law. He says:
“But then
let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is now law to punish; else a
man’s enemy is still forehand”.
In his essay
“Of Suitors” Bacon explains his moral preaching that a man should deny to accept
a suit, then to accept it by giving a false hope to the suitor and that one should
not demand undue reward for his services. Bacon says that who undertake suits
and employ crooked methods to win are the worst offenders of society. But he
also says that if a patron wants favor the undeserving party, he should bring
both the parties to a compromise for this would be less dangerous for him, so, in
Bacon’s pint of view morality and ethical codes are less important to worldly
considerations.
Bacon’s
morality has also been described as cynical kind of wisdom. This impression is
confirmed by the substance of even those essays which deal with the strong
private relations between men.
Thus, in
short, though Bacon’s essays portray morality and high ethical standards, yet
he does not appear as an ideal moralist and these are but the “flashes of
morality”. He is not a true moralist. He was moralist-cum-worldly wise man.
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