Marriage and Wife

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary marriage is defined as “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.” In the essay “Of Marriage and Single Life” by Francis Bacon, he talks about how men should act to please women, so they can marry them in the future. Francis Bacon wrote this piece in the early seventeenth century. In the essay “I Want A Wife” by Judy Syfers, she talks about wives from a husbands’ perspective. Syfers basically describes all the characteristics and personality traits that she thinks men look for in a woman. These two essays have some similarities on how Bacon and Syfers think that marriages should work, however the pieces also have a lot of differences. As stated earlier the piece by Francis Bacon was written long before Syfers was even born, therefore some of the ideas that Bacon believes are much different because of the time period the essay was written in. Francis Bacon talks about the differences between married men and single men. He said that single men make better friends and are generally more fun to be around. However single men are not as loyal and reliable as married men because they have never had to make a commitment like marriage. He also believes that all the money that a man makes should go straight to providing for his wife and children, so they can live in the best environment and household possible. Bacon believes that single men are more charitable, because they do not have a wife and family that they have to provide for. Bacon also makes it clear that if a woman is unhappy with her marriage that it is ultimately her fault because she chose to marry her husband with mutual consent. Judy Syfers’ essay is written from the perspective that she is a man describing what she believes is the perfect wife. However in the first line of her essay Syfers says that she is married and has children. In this essay Syfers is almost