(as seen in the beginning of the Shakespeare First Folio this “W” begins the name of William Shakespeare on the list of the names of the principal actors . There is a Janus Head in the “W” with the faces looking in the opposite directions of the past, and the future.)
“Since there are 24 sidereal hours in the period of a year, Bacon also included the annual period in his symbolism. Here we begin to penetrate into the inner recesses of Bacon’s symbolism. I have tried to demonstrate in my articles on the various plays that by crafting two faces in each play; one looking toward the past, and one toward the future, Bacon was following the intent he had expressed in his very early work, the “Masculine Birth of Time”:
“Nevertheless it is important to understand how the present is like a seer with two faces, one looking toward the future, and the other towards the past. Accordingly, I have decided to prepare for your instruction tables of both ages, containing not only the pastcourse and progress of science, but also anticipations of things to come. The nature of these tables you could not conjecture before you see them. A genuine anticipation of them is beyond your scope, nor would you be aware of the lack of it unless it was put into your hands. It is a compliment reserved to some of the choicer spirits among you whom I hope to win thereby. But generally speaking Science is to be sought from the light of nature, nor from the Darkness of Antiquity.”
It is necessary to follow everything Bacon says very closely. He is giving notice here of his intention to construct the plays so each has two faces; one looking toward the past, and one toward the future. But he is also adopting the god Janus as the symbol of his plays and it is important to understand everything that this implies. Janus was said to be father of all the gods. He was also the god of the year. January is the month of Janus. From his position at the beginning of the year Janus looks backward to the past, and forward to the future. Janus held in his hands a key and numbers signifying the 365 days of the year. It appears that Bacon has constructed both the plan of the plays, and of his discovery device on the pattern of the annual cycle, and that by his figure of Janus he insinuates this provides the key to the metaphoric construction of the plays, and that this construction is connected with the annual cycle.”- Mather Walker, The Winter’s Tale Mystery
