Original artwork, not a still
"Of Revenge," Essays (1597-1625).
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Bacon describes revenge as justice growing beyond proper cultivation. The impulse is recognisable as a demand for redress, but its unchecked form calls for legal restraint. The weeding comparison makes that restraint more necessary precisely where the appetite for revenge is strongest.
Context reviewed
