A combination of reading Plato’s arguments for “banishing the poets”, Logic lectures and the various Law firms in town last week, made me consider being more serious myself – of swaying further into Apollonian light than Dionysian charm. 

 

The sudden, brief appearance of The Magic Circle law firms in Cambridge last week was a bit like the circus coming to town, given the free wine and exciting array of pointless toys and amusements. I must admit that was the main incentive for me. At the back of my mind, as well, I did quite genuinely want to find a new way of life that would be more substantial and structured than the vague “a career in the arts” which sounds less like a career choice and more of sacrifice to Fortune. 

Slaughter & May, perhaps because it was the first presentation I went to, was actually quite interesting. The people I spoke to were lovely, and I talked to the Trainee Recruitment Officer for half an hour about crime, “Trinity” on ITV (a crime against us all, surely?) and how to cope with sleep deprivation. After the talk, myself and two other potential lawyers (whom I won’t name, just in case they do want careers in law) ate most of the free sushi and drank quite a lot of the free wine and beer, and the drunker we got, the more we started talking about those elusive “careers in the arts” that we could not help but be sold on, even if “Acting” and “Writing” held no evenings and presentations and answered no questions on salary, stability or the work / life balance. 

At the very end of the evening, when all the other students and professionals had gone, and a waitress offered us the last of the beers, a partner of the firm sat down with us, and somehow we ended up talking about pre-nuptial agreements for half an hour (apparently they’ll be legally binding in the next two years. Just in case you’re wondering…) I finished my wine, thought about the death of romance, or perhaps the legalization of common sense, and we went to the Maypole. 

The next night, I went to Freshfields. Although, again, the people seemed nice enough, the work (even the presentation) seemed utterly soul-destroying. At the end of the questions, one of the lawyers said: “… So basically we’re looking for commercial awareness. If you listened to this presentation and found it boring, then you probably don’t have commercial awareness…” Not me, then… 

After some wine and calamari, I realized it was getting late, and I had to run to the Corpus Playroom to see “Good. Clean. Men.” … And it was brilliant! All the actors were so charming and funny, and since then I have not been tempted by the Magic Circle Law Firms at all; they shall not hypnotize me (with wine and financial incentives) into selling my soul. I could not miss these plays and these people. Though I must “banish the poet” when I am reading Logic and writing essays, for Philosophy requires a sort of Puritanism of the soul – I comfort myself in thinking that it is only temporary, or at least only partial. I could not banish the poet even if I tried. 

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