William Hazlitt

I discovered William Hazlitt today.

I discovered him watching The Fortunes of War a 1987 television adaptation of the series of books by Olivia Manning. The series stars Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.

According to Wikipedia, William Hazlitt was an English literary critic, 1778-1830, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, often esteemed as one of the greatest English literary critics. "Hazlitt's writings and remarks on Shakespeare's plays and characters are ... known for... "their depth, insight, originality, and imagination."

In the middle of this World War II movie set in Romania, the British ex-pats perform Troiles and Cressida. This Shakespearean play, set in Troy, has all that is needed for war: Trojans and Greeks fighting over Helen. As the actors perform their lines, the movie displays scenes showing the Germans and French fighting over Paris.

Branagh, while speaking of the play about war in a movie about war, differentiates between those for and against facism with this quote:

"The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves."

That statement stuck with me.

Thanks to Google, I was able to determine that William Hazlitt wrote it.

So how does that jibe with the second great commandment: Thou shalt love your neighbor as thyself" in Matthew 22:39 or Mark 12:31.

The similarity between the two is the use of the word love. Do others equate with neighbor?

In the movie, Thompson worries about Branagh wanting to assist all people in need all the time. That everyone he meets that is down on their luck, is worthy of assistance regardless of whether they are "good" or "bad." Good or bad seems to be determined by Thompson, Branagh's wife. To be concerned this way, he equates with liberty or freedom. To believe otherwise, is to love ourselves first, which is the basis for having power over others. The epitome of this belief system is Hitler and the Nazis.

Is this the answer: by focusing outwards rather than inwards (the commandment) do we obtain freedom?

However, which comes first? Liberty or the love of others? The chicken or the egg?