2. The Liberty of An Unmarried Life
• He feels that the unmarried men are unrestricted
and free to make bold moves that can produce
important changes in culture and society.
• According to him, human history is a testament
to the fact that the greatest achievements in the
different spheres of science, art, literature etc.
have been made by men and women who were
single and uninhibited by the constraints of
marriage.
3. • Wealthy singles can be generous with their
money are therefore sought after by churches.
Unlike married men who are responsible to
provide for their family members, the bachelors
are less encumbered by such worries.
• However, he also states the fact that married men
who have children have an incentive to think
about the future and posterity. They take matters
of such importance with gravity and seriousness.
4. • This empowers them with a commitment to
make efforts for improvement. This also drives
them to explore the future consequences of
action or inaction in the present. It can lead to a
need to make a better tomorrow for their
children and their children In the same vein,
• Bacon points at various single people who are
lethargic, unmotivated and wasteful with their
time and energy. They abuse their bachelorhood
and often lack sensitivity to various problems of
the present and dangers in the future.
5. • They exhibit a level of callousness to the
opportunities that they have and have no
regrets about their self-indulgence, inaction,
wastefulness and shameless disregard.
6. • Then there are a few who are married but
consider their wives and children as a burden in
their own freedom and selfish desires.
• To them, procreation will lead to more number of
claimants to their wealth and property. They
refuse to see the need and benefits of a family
and leaving a legacy beyond their material
possessions.
• They are influenced by the fears of losing their
wealth in the upkeep of a large family.
7. The Unreliability of the Bachelor
• Bacon then points out people who stay single because
they believe that marriage only leads to more fetters,
restrictions, responsibilities and obligations.
• They have strange convictions that single life can
protect them from ever having such burden of
obligations, duties and stresses that bother married
people.
• They are consumed by a self-created illusion of a
blissful and fulfilling single life that does not suffer
from the bondage and shackles of marriage. They are
forever on the run from the prison of marital
responsibilities and commitments
8. • Therefore, unmarried men are always a flight
risk, prone to just run away and desertion.
They are often good employees, better
friends, as they have ample time for their
employees and friends.
9. A Discipline in Humanity
• Bacon then described the need for men of justice like
judges and magistrates to espouse the qualities of
honesty, reasoning and fairness.
• While an unrestrained and unanchored bachelor can
be unpredictable, reckless and discretionary in his
thought and judgment, a married man is more suited
for the responsibility of a judge.
• He has the necessary understanding and regard for
commitment and responsibility as he has a wife and
family to keep secure. He is more likely to be careful
and patient with his decision and less vulnerable to
making rash judgments and errors in this thinking.
10. military organizations
• In military organizations, the generals use the whole
premise of ‘a family to protect’ when they address
their soldiers. The married soldiers are committed to
ensuring security if their wives and children.
• The lofty ideals of virtues and chivalry, patriotism and
duty are praised and encouraged when soldiers take to
the battlefield.
• Bacon observes that in the army of Turks, it is the
unmarried soldiers who are prone to debase, perverse
and the vilest behaviour when it comes to conducting
with the defeated opposition army and prisoners of
war.
11. The Good Husband and Wife
• Men with ethics and morals are good husbands. They
are not tempted by the pleasures of infidelity and
remain honest and loyal to their wives and marriage.
• Here, Bacon gives the example of Ulysses who valued
his wife more than an immortal life. In the same vein,
the woman also courts and regarding chastity. They
preserve it as their sense of purity.
• They have greater self-respect and value their body as
sacred and not just means of carnal pleasures of the
flesh. Therefore, a woman of chastity is proud of her
worth and the worth of his loyal husband.
12. • Their relationship is strong, durable and
enriched with mutual respect. The vice of
jealousy can weaken this bond as the wife will
not feel the trust of her husband if he is
envious and susceptible to doubt and
suspicion.
13. The Apt Time for Marriage
• Bacon points out the different roles a wife plays
in a man’s life. When he is young and passionate,
she becomes his lover. She pleasures him
sensually and her love and devotion make him
feel more virile and strong.
• In his middle age, she is his companion in weal
and woe, good or bad and triumph or disaster.
She becomes his constant, a pillar of strength. As
he enters old age and becomes weak and weary,
his becomes a nurse and a caregiver. She
nourishes him at his most vulnerable.
14. • Marriage demands commitment and total devotion
and thus men must wait for the opportune time. On
the flipside, when a man is old and suffering, he must
not rush to get a wife even if there are beautiful young
women who are available to marry.
• Old age brings its share of problems and issues and
may lead to unwanted situations. Bacon beautifully
uses a philosopher’s quote to answer the question
about the correct age and time to marry, “a young
man not yet, an elder man not at all”
15. The Failed Husbands
• Bacon feels that we often see some the most tyrannical
and cruellest men with the noblest and most generous
wives. These women endure great hardships and are
happy with even the smallest gestures of affection
from their mean husbands.
• They are devoted and committed to securing their
marriage even if they suffer many sacrifices and pains
during the process. But, it is the husbands who do not
value such great and loving wives, who are the biggest
losers of all.Their inability to value the affection and
care of their wives makes them a failure both as
husbands and human beings.
16. Of Marriage and Single Life: Key
Thoughts
• In Of Marriage and Single Life, Bacon is able to
compare single life and married life through different
lenses. He puts forward the pros and cons of marriage
in terms of how it is viewed by society and how it
affects an individual.
• Even though he enlists the burdens and limitation of
marriage, he extols the benefits of marriage and how it
shapes a person.
• Bacon insists that having a family can make a man
generous and merciful. It teaches a form of discipline
that single men, lack and thus are more cruel and
reckless.
