John Stuart Mill

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that John Stuart Mill's essay, "On Liberty", a criticism of the inequalities that existed during the Victorian era, is a very unique piece of literature in that it presents opportunities to view society and its norms in a different way. The author points out that the ideas from "On Liberty" spilled over into the delicate area of how society treated women. This inspired another essay, "The Subjection of Women". The paper relates that, for Mill, freedom and individuality are necessary components of liberty, and many of the tenets of society actually were hostile to man in order to control or manage him.

From the Paper:

"Mill also claims that many women, contrary to popular belief, do not accept willingly the way in which they were treated in his time. He points out that many women expressed objections to such treatment through their writing. They protested social conditions and many even petitioned Parliament for "admission to the Parliamentary Suffrage" (1057). He states that custom "ought not to create any prejudice, in favor of the arrangements which place women in social and political subjection to men" (1059). This was quite a statement considering that it was written at a time when women could not vote."

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