"Of Marriage and Single Life"

Central Argument: If men get married at a young age, they are bogged down by their family responsibilities and cannot help the community. However, if men marry when they are in their middle ages they can simultaneously help their family as well as contribute to the society.

Marriage, an oath taken by a man and woman to live with each other for the rest of their lives is usually considered a positive act, yet some people find this way of living life a burden. Francis Bacon addresses the lives of single and married men in his essay, “Of Marriage and Single Life.” He mentions the free life lived by single men, and how by marrying at a young age they are both, restricted from experiencing new things and cannot contribute to society; however, after a certain age, men should marry as they have a new perspective on things after marriage which can help contribute to society and as they grow old, they need company. I agree with Bacon’s essay as the animated movie, The Incredibles, represent the situations faced by a single man and a married man, and also because I have witnessed the effect a woman has on a man in the later stages of life.
The Incredibles is an animated movie of a family with superhero powers. Before getting married, the protagonist – Mr. Incredible, is shown as the hero of the city catching every criminal and putting order back into place. He lives his life exactly the way he wants and does not care about anything else. However, after falling in love and getting married, he realizes the responsibilities he now holds as a father and a husband. He is restricted from what he wants to do and what he does best, and is stuck in a small cubicle in his work building to earn a living and support his family. Bacon mentions this situation faced by married men as they have to pay so much attention to their wife and children that they have little time for themselves. However, after a certain incident in which Mr. Incredible puts his and his family’s life at risk, he realizes the importance of a family. He matures over that time and realizes that he has had his fun as a young adult and now he must act his age and be content with what he has.
Living in a close-knit neighborhood, my mother often took me to visit the elderly couple that lives next door. We have been visiting more frequently in the last two years as the man lives alone due to the sudden death of his wife. Last year, my mother told me about this man’s life story about how he made a big mistake as a young man. This man ran away with the girl he thought he loved, and spent his early-twenty years slogging to earn a living and please this woman, who eventually ended up leaving him, instead of studying , partying, and living a normal 20 year-old life. He had wasted precious time and effort on nothing, and my mother kept emphasizing the regret that he must have felt. This man married again, to a woman that actually loved him back, around 15 years later. They lived a happy married life; always organizing get-togethers and no matter where I saw them they would be together. This woman was his “companion [during his] middle age” and his “nurse” during his old age. This shows that there definitely is a right time for everything, especially marriage.
Through this essay, Bacon says that there is an age at which men should marry. They should not be too young, as that is the time for them to contribute to society and experience new things; neither should a man remain single during old age as that is the time in which company is needed the most.