Marriage and Single life

Sir Francis Bacon’s essay on “Of Marriage and Single Life”

Central Argument: A single life has benefits such as more money, however, it also makes people more cruel and hardhearted.

I disagree with Sir Francis Bacon about single life making men more hard hearted and cruel. There are many people who are single and happy with their lives. Single people have relationships with girlfriends or boyfriends and yes, like Sir Francis Bacon said they have more money for themselves. I think single people have more money, which allows them to have more fun because they have fewer limitations.

            The people who are married are usually stressed and in some cases depressed. They have limitations with fun. Married couples with children cannot go out at night and come home late. They have to deal with the child’s schooling, health, behavior etc. This is a tiring life. It makes people more shut out to the real world, because of so much responsibility at home. Therefore people who are single and can go out whenever they want, and do whatever they want. This freedom makes people happy and more content with life. If people are happy they are usually kinder to other people. When married couples get old too they are still shut out from doing a lot of things. Firstly, they are too old to do certain things. Secondly, they might have a wife who is sick and old. My grandfather took care of my grandmother when she was really sick and in her last stage of life. He did everything, because he thought it was her responsibility. My grandfather loves to party, but he was restricted to do this because of his responsibilities. So age really make a difference to the benefits of a married life.

The people who are married are usually stressed and in some cases depressed. They fight constantly over small things. When they live under the same roof, even though they are brought together they are separated by differences. This is somewhat like in England in the 19^th Century. Industrialization brought English people together, but as they came together they became conscious of their status wither being rich or poor. This created a gap between the rich and the poor. Similarly, when married couples live together they grow distant with each other, thus making them angry and cruel to everyone besides their spouse. A single life on the other hand gives individuals their space and freedom, and helps keep their emotions controlled and positive. Married life doesn’t always make young people disciplined. Married couples get so mad at each other that the word discipline stops existing in their mind.

A single life is a life with no worries and a lot of money. When you are single you spend your earnings only on yourself and your needs. In a married life you have to worry about your spouse’s needs as well as yours. If they have a child, it is worse. They have to share their earning with two people. Money makes people happy because it allows them to do a lot of things that they want to. If people cannot do what they want they will be happy. Therefore a single life makes people happy. In the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness we can see this. Will Smith struggle economically because he has to provide for his wife and his son when he gets his job and gets promoted he is happy. If he never had a son he probably wouldn’t have had to suffer as much. A single life gives you pleasure regardless of age and it does not make people cruel because they are already happy with the benefits of a single life to impose any kind of hatred towards anyone.