Sonnet 94 by Shakespeare

They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

I am particularly fond of this sonnet because I was, at the time of reading it, having similar thoughts. Whilst I have no doubt that Shakespeare is not referring to the legal system, I feel the poem can still be interpreted as such. I was contemplating the law and how, whilst of course stymieing the intentions of criminals, it also makes the task of discerning the villainous from the virtuous more difficult for the everyday person. Criminals, who would with absolute freedom have killed or raped or stolen a 4B pencil from the local art merchant, under the law adopt the appearance of a virtuous person. Whatever one's morality, one is shown to be moral by abidance to the law. Of course, I'm not advocating the punishment of thought crime, but it did seem to me that those who are acting morally only for fear of retribution and personal plight should be considered less virtuous than those who acted morally regardless of the law. It is more commendable to express restraint of one's own volition than to express restraint under the fetters of judicial edicts. I absolutely detest cliché unless used ironically or comically, but the law effectively proffers wolves sheeps' clothing. Whilst you may say that this not much matters, for they cannot act on these villainous impulses under the law, I would postulate that a willingness to act immorally must taint every aspect of a person's character. It is legal, for example, to continuously act selfishly, and almost every illegality imaginable involves a heaped spoonful of selfishness. Having been proactively debarred from homicide (I am using one of the worst crimes in order to make the argument clear, most offenders of course are not murderers), this does not stop someone from being a general arse. I would rather not associate with those who are letting me live only because of the law. 

After that fairly circuitous segue, another interesting thing about this poem is that its sentiment is later appropriated, knowingly or not, by J. K. Rowling. She writes in one of the Harry Potter books: 'If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.' I was going to find out exactly which Harry Potter book this comes from, but I fear even J. K. Rowling would not be able to summon a dissimulation of interest if I were to waste the time doing so. Apropos, I don't think she was consciously channelling Shakespeare, but it's quaint how it seems nobody can escape his yoke. 

Spiffing, boffo, copacetic, frabjous and all that. I have no more to say. I suppose it doesn't readily occur to me, though perhaps it should, how absolutely egoistic it must seem - and is - for me to direct attention away from a Shakespeare sonnet and towards my own witterings. I have far exceeded his 14 lines and still if this was a job interview he would have the job before my interview had finished. Quality over quantity, eh.