30 pages • 1 hour read
John Stuart MillThe Subjection of Women
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1869A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Logos
The logos appeal refers to an author’s use of logic and reasoning to support their argument. Logos can take the form of using facts, statistics, data, and/or critical thinking to demonstrate the logic behind a particular claim. Mill states at the beginning of his text that the logic behind Freeing the “Angel in the House” ought to be apparent; however, deep-seated and widespread belief in a gender hierarchy impedes people’s ability to perceive this logic.
Mill’s essay is in part an attempt to excavate this buried logic, and it utilizes logos in various ways. His references to other societies, for example, aim to show the impact of oppression versus liberty—e.g., how Sparta’s practice of allowing women physical exercise proved that they were “not naturally disqualified” from it (24). In describing marriage, Mill methodically details its peculiarities as an institution—e.g., that it allows any man to participate, regardless of capability, and that the laws surrounding it assume the best case scenario rather than protecting against the worst—and suggests that these peculiarities not only produce harmful consequences but also speak to marriage’s true, oppressive function. Mill’s use of logos is perhaps most apparent at the end of The Subjection of Women, when he lists the various benefits women’s full participation in society would have for society overall.
Pathos
The pathos appeal refers to an author’s ability to elicit emotions via vivid, relatable examples. As a utilitarian, Mill prefers logic over feelings; in fact, he criticizes Victorian England for exchanging “the apotheosis of Reason [for] that of Instinct; and we call everything instinct which we find in ourselves and for which we cannot trace any rational foundation” (6). In other words, there are too many feelings determining the status of women in society; rational thought (i.e., logos) ought to dictate a person’s legal status. Nonetheless, Mill appeals to pathos in describing the brutal cruelty of marriage for many women in this era, especially in describing how a woman could lose her children if she sought to leave an abusive husband. In revealing the stark reality women faced in being denied the basic rights men enjoyed, Mill counts on inciting a strong emotional response—all the stronger, perhaps, given the era’s idealization of motherhood.
Rebuttal
In another example of the logos appeal, Mill consistently anticipates and navigates different roadblocks on the road to gender equality. He begins by acknowledging his unique predicament in having to defend freedom, when typically, freedom is considered the status quo. Mill attributes these unusual circumstances to the strength of people’s feelings about Nature Versus Society and the Gender Hierarchy; in fact, he remarks that even if he comprehensively took on the arguments against gender equality, many people would remain attached to gender norms as a cultural tradition. Nevertheless, Mill devotes the bulk of his rebuttal, or counterargument, to challenging these feelings, arguing that despite the strong reactions the gender hierarchy elicits, it does not in fact make most people happy. Men are bored in their marriages because they lack shared interests with their wives, who are largely uneducated and live incredibly sheltered yet burdensome lives as “slaves” in the domestic realm. Meanwhile, women are wasted potential, made miserable by their overreliance on their husbands for financial stability and incredibly unhappy when their children, often their sole source of purpose, leave home (or if they are unable to have children). For this and many other reasons, Mill argues, society has a moral obligation to enact gender equality to increase happiness for all.
Allusion
Allusions are references to literary or historical events. Mill alludes to several historical examples throughout his text, such as slavery, Christianity, female monarchs, and Ancient Greece and Rome. In each case, the allusion serves as a comparison to Victorian England or an aspect of it. For example, Mill criticizes Christianity’s insistence on women’s inferiority to men while nonetheless regarding it as superior to other religions. This ambivalence is best captured when Mill references “that practical feeling of the equality of human beings, which is the theory of Christianity, but which Christianity will never practically teach, while it sanctions institutions grounded on an arbitrary preference of one human being over another” (77-78). Here and elsewhere, Mill shows the value of Christian belief but faults its societal application. Additionally, he reminds his readers that the Bible condones slavery, while England has abolished it; yet women’s oppression remains and is justified, in part, by references to the Bible. In the highly Christian world of Victorian England, these allegations of religious hypocrisy would resonate particularly strongly.
Mill also alludes to female monarchs like Queen Victoria and Catherine II to illustrate that women have successfully ruled and participated in politics. As Mill claims, “The ladies of reigning families are the only women who are allowed the same range of interests and freedom of development as men; and it is precisely in their case that there is not found to be any inferiority” (102). As Mill shows, when women participate in developing war strategies and public policies, they are just as qualified as their male counterparts.
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By John Stuart Mill
