02.24.07
The Essays: Fifteenth Post (Love)
I really have to wonder why Bacon ever got married at all. He can think of no great men who ever fell in love. This makes me wonder who he considers great, since I can think of a great number of great men, both political and otherwise, who fell in love and some point or other in the course of their lives.
How anyone could ever think this heartless, misogynist could have written The Merchant of Venice or A Winter’s Tale or any of Shakespeare’s other masterpieces is beyond me! (These examples were chosen for their strong female characters and noteworthy love stories, by the way, not because I have any particular preference for them or think they are Shakespeare’s best, although I do hold both in very high regard.)