Charles Darwin’s List of the Pros and Cons of Marriage

February 15, 2016 10:15 AM

“My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all.”
posted by cotton dress sock (16 comments total)

Metafilter: better than a dog, anyhow.
posted by idiopath at 10:25 AM on February 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Metafilter: Object to be beloved & played with.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:29 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

He then produces his conclusion:

"Marry — Mary — Marry Q.E.D."

What a shame metafilter wasn't there for him.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:26 AM on February 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Quickie translation of a confusing word usage: Replace "without one's wife" with "unless one's wife".
posted by serena15221 at 11:43 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Darwin would have no success in Silicon Valley. What else is there to life here but working, working, and nothing after all?
posted by happyroach at 1:08 PM on February 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

- Love of rutting -
posted by benzenedream at 1:33 PM on February 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Poor Chucky! Oh how so wrong you have it. See, the boys in the hive are good fer nuttin' honey eating layabouts unless they had a chance contribute to the gene pool earlier in the year. If they survived to see late summer the girls would have had enough of their freeloading ways by then, and would shove them out of the hive to starve, or freeze.

It might be better, I think, to consider being a solitary bee.
posted by squeak at 2:20 PM on February 15, 2016

Sorry, this really could have gone under a bunch of recent posts that I didn't see until after I posted - this came up, felt like passing it on. Like I guess Charles did (badum-tssssss)
posted by cotton dress sock at 3:22 PM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had the pleasure of spending many afternoons with an editor of the Darwin Correspondence Project, who convinced me after some discussion that Darwin, the man, was amazingly complex and conflicted, whose life, despite the world-splitting importance of his research, really was filled with a very human sort of drama and pathos. I often wanted to ask him about Paul Bettany's portrayal in the 2009 film Creation, but, alas, I lost contact with him.
posted by eclectist at 4:09 PM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

“My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all.”

chh, just try doing it, Chuck. Way worse than just thinking about it.
posted by mwhybark at 7:00 PM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

We used some of these as a reading at our wedding -- we had one of our friends read some of the "pro" arguments and another do the "cons." It was great (from our point of view, anyway). I didn't ask my super-fundamentalist cousins about their reaction to hearing Darwin at the wedding, though.
posted by chalkbored at 2:25 AM on February 16, 2016 [6 favorites]

Charles Darwin, beanplater.
posted by JanetLand at 5:27 AM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love it. I love the thought of Darwin (or any man, really) sitting there, wondering if he can have it all.
posted by muddgirl at 6:37 AM on February 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Okay, so how did he and his wife manage to have ten (!) children and still produce multiple science-transforming books?

(I'm reminded of Euler, who was said to bounce his children on his knee while he did his groundbreaking math. I can't imagine, and I only have one kid.)
posted by clawsoon at 7:56 AM on February 16, 2016

Labor was a lot cheaper back then, I'm sure they had maids and nanny's even on his "gentlemen scientist" income. Emma must have been the economical angel he was hoping for.

Also, despite Darwin's chronic ill health, it seems to me like he had near-exhaustable energy when he was healthy. Almost manic. I was reading up a bit on the house Emma and Charles bought in the country, and he was constantly improving it with extensions and buying land and building a greenhouse to grow orchids, even while writing and studying and travelling often to London.
posted by muddgirl at 8:31 AM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Their families had a good deal of money, and Darwin's father was pretty generous with it in terms of supporting them, especially once Darwin had established himself as an eminent scientist. Helped buy their house in the country as I recall. Also, _The Voyage of the Beagle_ was a big popular success, which brought in money, and Emma eventually inherited from her family.
posted by tavella at 8:48 AM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]