The only arrangement that Mill uses between a man and a woman is marriage. Although marriage is popular and was popular so at this time, he regrets to include other scenarios advocating for women outside of marriage. In contemporary day, there are all sorts of lives that women lead, whether that is choosing to not get married, being a widow, a single mother, or even having a life partner. Mill does not address any of these other situations, that are equally likely, and by not doing so, doesn’t seem to really advocate for women’s own independence outside of marriage, nor fully pushes for women’s complete independence. This excludes women in these scenarios from what he is rallying for because Mill is trying to keep women from being seen as “slaves”
in their marriages. These alternative scenarios keep women from being included and Mill doesn’t analyze the societal effects of women in these situations, whether they are being scorned and judged, and therefore keeps women from gaining the equality and rights that he wants women to have. On the opposite end of this, Mills also doesn’t positively evaluate marriages in which the woman is the so-called breadwinner of the house and her husband is the caretaker. Mill’s even goes as far to state that women should not be the main source of income to support their family, but in many cases, women enjoy their line of work and men can enjoy the role of caretaker. He follows a very status quo way of thinking and contradicts himself in doing so, by stating that women should not be the main source of income and that it’s the husband that should be the breadwinner. This is a contradiction because he advocates for the “natural equality” of men and women, but restricts women from being assertive and ambitious in their careers because the man should be making more money than women. Mill even goes as far to say that if women work and are the breadwinners, their husbands will fall into alcoholism, laziness, and force their wives to work. This is not necessarily the only valid outcome of a woman working because again, there are many different familial scenarios and a woman may not even be supporting a husband or a family.
Women of the nineteenth century had very set expectations. There were only two types of women: upper class bourgeoisie and lower class farmer’s wives or daughters. Women were considered physically weaker to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere while the men workers and made the money. The mill girls defied all of this, and created their own class of women: wage earning middle class women. These women were not like farmers’ wives that were typically uneducated, nor like the bourgeoisie women that were educated, by mostly in domestic and “womanly” skills. The mill girls went to college if they so desired, most of the time doing that in the stead of getting married and becoming a housewife. The mill girls were a
The angry tone of Wollstonecraft’s “Vindication of the Rights of Women” significantly contrasts with the cautionary tone of Austen’s “On Making an Agreeable Marriage,” seeking to reform society rather than guide people to live in that society. When Austen describes the drawbacks of loveless marriage, she writes that “Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection” (Austen 72-73). Austen uses “preferred” and “endured” to warn her niece against marrying too quickly, creating a cautionary tone. Moreover, “anything” emphasizes the miserableness of a marriage without affection, beseeching Austen’s niece to verify her love before diving headfirst into a marriage. In contrast, when demonizing the education system, Wollstonecraft
Marriage in the 20’s was different from previous years. The 1920’s became the start of something major for women as they gained the right to vote with the help of the 19th amendment. Women gained freedom and the norms of the house started to change after that. Traditions were starting to be left in the past as women weren’t forced to do the “housewife” role. The women in the marriage were allowed to do more than sit and tend to the house. She could help her house or venture out and find work of her own. In Delia’s case, things did not become 50/50.
Just imagine marrying someone you don’t love. I’m pretty sure, you wouldn’t like that. The book states, “Marriage provided both material protections for a woman and, equally importantly, respectability”(Getz and Clarke 170). Marriage is supposed to give protection to the women, however, they were not being protected; they were being treated like slaves. Who would want to be married to someone that is so controlling?
The components of marriage, family and loss has played a big role in Anne Bradstreet’s writing of “Before the birth of One of Her Children”, “In Memory of Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet”, and Edward Taylor’s “Upon Wedlock and the Death of Children.” In, these writings both authors Puritan culture and their faith plays a big role. In these poems one author starts questioning their God and the other to take honor in their God throughout their grieving process, while both showing different aspects of their everlasting union with their spouse, and the love for their children.
“Victorian poets illustrated the changeable nature of attitudes and values within their world and explored the experiences of humanity through these shifts.”
The women in the mills found independence, earned money and experienced freedoms unavailable in their home communities. They helped their families during the changing market in America. Seller describes “with the agrarian crisis and capitalist transformation delaying marriages, skewing sex ratios and reducing textile production, straitened Yankee farm families needed mill wages
Even though Chudleigh eloquently forewarns women about the consequences of marriage, she neglects to address the aftereffects of not getting married. Chudleigh discounts how difficult it is to be an unwed woman in 1703. For the amount she detests marriage, it is ironic that she doesn’t offer and help to the brave women who venture into life on their own. There is no alternative posed to women as to how they are going to make money, where they are going to live or any other issue imperative to survival. Not only does Chudleigh elide the issue of basic survival, she also avoids offering a means of "getting out" for the women who are already married. It appears as though Chudleigh is very quick to condemn marriage, but not as eager to assist women whom she believes need a way out of a "fatal" matrimony.
To understand the significant change in the role of the women is to understand its roots. Traditionally, women in colonial America were limited in the roles they played or limited in their "spheres of influence." Women were once seen as only needed to bear children and care for them. Their only role was domestic; related to activities such as cooking and cleaning. A married woman shared her husband's status and often lived with his family. The woman was denied any legal control over her possession, land, money, or even her own children after a divorce. In a sense, she was the possession of her husband after marriage. She "... was a legal incompetent, as children, idiots, and criminals were under English law. As feme covert she was stripped of all property; once married, the clothes on her back, her personal possessions--whether valuable, mutable or merely sentimental--and even her body became her husband's, to direct, to manage, and to use. Once a child was born to the couple, her land, too, came under his control." (Berkin 14)
Doesn’t every American want to be happy? John Stuart Mill’s believes you should not search for happiness is relatively recent. He says that if you search for happiness you will never find it because you will be too busy searching for it. I agree with John Stuart Mill’s argument that we should not search for happiness.
Society shows the stereotypical way of thinking in the Victorian era: women are subordinate to men. This can be seen through Mary Whitney. Mary Whitney tells Grace what her goals should be and how she should act: “It was a custom for young girls in this country to hire themselves out, in order to earn money for their dowries, and then they would marry, and if their husbands proposed they would soon be hiring their own servants in their turn and then they, ―would be mistress of a tidy farmhouse, and independent” (Atwood 182). Mary Whitney is explaining to Grace that a woman needs to get married in order for her to be successful. This was the gender construction of the time, and she is trying to get Grace to take on that role. This is very true to the a...
Kant and Mill both try to decide whether the process of doing something is distinguished as right or wrong. They explain that right or wrong is described as moral or immoral. In the writings of Grounding for the Metaphysics of morals Kant says that you only need to “act only according to the maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant, 30). Kant then states that a practical principal for how far the human will is concerned is thereby a categorical imperative, that everyone then is necessarily an end, and the end in itself establishes an objective principal of the will and can aid as a practical law (36). Mill on the other hand has the outlook that the greatest happiness principle, or utilitarianism, is that happiness and pleasure are the freedom from pain (Mill, 186). With these principles we will see that Kant and Mill correspond and contradict each other in their moral theories.
Women were only second-class citizens. They were supposed to stay home cook, clean, achieve motherhood and please their husbands. The constitution did not allow women to vote until the 19th amendment in 1971 due to gender discrimination. Deeper in the chapter it discusses the glass ceiling. Women by law have equal opportunities, but most business owners, which are men, will not even take them serious. Women also encounter sexual harassment and some men expect them to do certain things in order for them to succeed in that particular workplace. The society did not allow women to pursue a real education or get a real job. Women have always been the submissive person by default, and men have always been the stronger one, and the protector. Since the dawn of time, the world has seen a woman as a trophy for a man’s arm and a sexual desire for a man’s
In the Victorian era, marriage was not as romanticized or fairytale-like as depicted in many novels of the time. On the contrary, love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place. An engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, and there were some generally accepted rules and guidelines to follow.
The only way Mill said that women living in the mid-nineteenth century in Europe could get their opinions known was through written works. The main argument women were trying to make was to be as educated and given the same opportunities that men received. Women wanted to obtain jobs in high positions; jobs that required men to listen to women and follow the orders that women gave to men. According to Mill, men wanted women to tend to their needs without forcing them. A wife who seemed to be forced to serve their husband was an undesirable one.