A BACHELOR’S COMPLAINT OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF MARRIED PEOPLE – CHARLES LAMB

A BACHELOR’S COMPLAINT OF  THE BEHAVIOUR OF MARRIED PEOPLE – CHARLES LAMB

     ‘A Bachelor’s Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People’ was published in September, 1822 in London Magazine. In this essay Lamb criticizes at the behaviour of newly married people. Lamb begins this essay by saying that being a bachelor, he has a god deal of time in noting down the infirmities of the married people. To married people, bachelors have lost ‘superior pleasure’ of life by remaining single. But Lamb did not think so. Lamb dislikes married people not because of their quarrels but because of their excessive love showing.

     Lamb says “Many good things can be learnt from learned”. But a bachelor can not derive any good things by watching or listening to the married people. The married people boast about their privilege to others. The married people think, the bachelor as intellectually inferior person. Once, a married woman refuses to discuss the breeding of Oysters with Lamb. She asked Lamb what an old bachelor could know about breeding Oysters.

     The pride of woman is unbearable, if she has children. To Lamb, children are common and not as rare as Phoneix. Even poor people have a number of children, so married should not feel proud just because they had children.

     Lamb loves children because they are engaging. He loves children not because they are the children of his friends. He quotes a proverb, ‘Love me, Love my dog’. One can love inanimate things of one’s friend but not children.

     Lamb complaints that young wives try to separate the old friends of their husbands from him. To separate, they use many cunning methods. One such method is to laugh at everything the friend says and make their husband to think that his old friend is not fit to be his companion. Another method is the exaggeration. By exaggerating the qualities of her husband’s friend, her husband himself became jealous and will cut down his friendship.

     Lamb complaints that most of the wives treat their husband’s friend with contempt. Once, a woman made him wait for long time to serve supper. Another woman served ordinary food to Lamb and some special food for herself and her husband.

      Lamb concludes this essay by warning his married friends to correct themselves. If they fail to do, Lamb says that he will publish all their names.