I would like to comment on John Stuarts Mill's "Statement Repudiating the Rights of Husbands." After reading this statement I thought that Mill was saying that marriage, in his present day, lacked awareness and compassion. People did not think hard enough about the enormity of the decision to marry someone. Nor did they realize that when you marry someone you are agreeing to share your life with this person, through the good and bad. Mill expressed that marriage is a life-long commitment, just like a legally binding contract. However, he makes it clear that he does not wish to use marriage to the only woman he has ever loved as a tool of power that he is allowed to wield over her. During the time in which he wrote this, women basically had no rights and what a husband said goes. Men had a myriad of power. In my opinion, maybe because I am a woman, a little too much power. Woman were not able to go out and get jobs or be independent. They stayed home and neither received formal education. This statement is special because I feel like Mill was recognizing the spiritual union that a man and woman share. He realizes that marriage is an emotional unification and not merely physical. If the marriage occurs, he wishes his wife to have the same freedoms she enjoyed before she was married.I admire the respect that he has for the woman he loves. It would be a great thing if all men would respect their wives this way.
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2 comments:
Candice,
Some good observations on Mill's view of marriage, but you tend to rely on summary and paraphrase here, rather than quoting and analyzing specific passages from the text.
I enjoyed reading Mill because I thought his views on marriage and "universal suffrage and free speech" were brilliant. I enjoyed reading your blog. Good job!
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