This manifesto is a far cry from what society in the 19th century view and value women. It was commonly known that women were viewed and valued like chattle, they were seen as property. Here is John Stuart Mill speaking out against the same societal views by saying, "I absolutely disclaim and repudiate all pretence to have acquired any rights whatever by virtue of such marriage."
I applaud his efforts in making all see the error of counting women as property, by simply saying marriage is a state entered by two sound minded individuals. It is worth nothing that this sentiment is vastly different from those of society. For Mill to voice his opinion in such a way could be viewed as him turning his back on established rights and morals.
After reading this and other of Mill's works, I conclude that he was in his own right a human rights activist. He valued the rights of those that society viewed as being lesser, and he also gave those a voice that had none.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteOK comments and observations on Mill's radical statement, but in future posts please provide more context and analysis for the passages you quote, and try to quote more than a single passage. Avoid broad generalizations about "society" and what it thinks; after all, Mill was a member of the Victorian society, grew up in it, and somehow reached these very different assumptions and conclusions. Society is rarely the monolithic institution we find it easier to pretend it to be.