To marry or not to marry this is the question

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله

"...better than a dog anyhow..."

- Charles Darwin

Emma Wedgwood after her 10th child

Charles Darwin is best remembered as the author of the Origin of Species. Not many look at his life as a man, who lived his life and had his own ups and downs. One of the biggest ups and downs of his life was his severe illness that plagued him after he returned from the voyage that he embarked on for five years. One big decision Darwin had to make, on his return was whether..."to marry or not to marry, this is the question".  Whether Darwin somehow intended for his notes about the pros and cons of this question to be preserved for future generations to see or not is not clear but it gives a great insight into Darwin's thought process.

One of the main reasons he stated for marriage was that having a wife is "...better than a dog anyhow..." I guess Darwin refuted the saying that a dog is man's best friend. I think better than a dog was a compliment for women by Darwin but who knows? I'll let the women of our time be the judge of what was in Darwin's brain when he jotted those words. His pros and cons really do summarize almost everything that a man thinks even today before he marries (apart from the dog of course - only some think that way). Read it for yourself and you will be a professor of the mind of men - without question.

His handwriting of pros and cons of marriage is definitely difficult to read (that was his handwriting after all) but here is what the paper says, 

Marry

Children - (if it please God) - Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, - object to be beloved and played with. - -better than a dog anyhow. - Home, & someone to take care of house - charms of music & female chit-chat. - These things good for one's health. - Forced to visit & receive relations but terrible loss of time.

W My God, it is intolerable to think of spending ones whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. - No, no won't do. - Imagine living all one's day solitarily in smoky dirty London House. - Only picture yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps - Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlbro' St. 

Marry - Marry - Marry Q.E.D

Not Marry

No children, (no second life), no one to care one in old age. - what is the use of working 'in' without sympathy from near & dear friends to the old, except relatives

Freedom to go where one liked - choice of Society & little of it. - Conversation of clever men at clubs - Not forced to visit relatives, & bend in every trifle. - to have the expense & anxiety of children - perhaps quarreling  - Loss of time. - cannot read in the Evenings - fatness and idleness - Anxiety and responsibility - less money for books &c - if many children forced to gain one's bread. - (But then it is very hard for ones health to work too much)

His pros and cons why to marry and not to marry

He wrote that in 1838 and got married in 1839.

I would love to see Nouman Ali Khan's interpretation on Darwin's thinking of marriage & the similarity of Darwin's views from an Islamic perspective. (Please share it to Nouman Khan)

Picture and transcription in the paper is taken from http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=CUL-DAR210.8.2&pageseq=1