The Subjection Of Women By John Stuart Mill

At the time when The Subjection of Women was written by John Stuart Mill (1869), women rights were few, almost inexistent as the concept of woman was related to meekness, submissiveness, always in the place of pleasing the man and the community she belonged to. The essay brings arguments in favour of genders equality, exposing the mechanism of the system of an upon-agreed society which marginalizes everything that deviates from the norms of it, deconstructing the vision of the time regarding woman’s position.
Though he hadn’t had the theoretical support that will be developed later (as Foucault would draw the attention to the artificiality of the law and the order of the things in society and Derrida who would deconstruct the problem of the …show more content…
Until conditions of equality exist, no one can possibly assess the natural differences between women and men, distorted as they have been. What is natural to the two sexes can only be found out by allowing both to develop and use their faculties freely” (Mill 13)
He does not go as far as Derrida theory and feminists, but as Roland Barthes, he observe the predetermined role imbued to children through education, he argues that what the English society claims to be natural is in fact a result of education and traditional prejudice: girls are taught to selflessly serve men as they cannot work, nor stand for themselves, they are weak, an peripheral element in the machine. It is implied that a submissive, meek woman is sexually attractive to man .Thereby, education stifles woman’s potential, adapting her to the society expectation as to fulfil a predetermined place in the system. The difference of now and then regarding the problem of the subjection of women is that nowadays the subject is seen as a matter of the freedom of expression, whereas, Mill’s essay is utilitarian, pointing that the women’s emancipation is beneficial for the society to function better (also better for …show more content…
Carmilla written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu portray the condition of woman in the Victorian time. Laura, the main character through which the book is narrated, the very naïve and rich, meets Carmilla, a vampire, both presented from being excessively emotional and tragic; the governesses are rather dull, docile and the book becomes more and more trivial as no one suspects that Carmilla is a vampire. Laura does not have say in her life, for instance, the episode of the medical consult, when she simply watches her father and the doctor discussing about what is best for her. It is suggested that Carmilla is in love with Laura (and the vampire tries to seduce the girl). The patriarchal values are restored when Carmilla is murdered by men, who had haunted her. Transformed into web series by Jordan Hall and directed by Spencer Maybee, in Styria (Austria) the characters are students at Silas University, the ironical tone is easy to be recognize, Carmilla habits makes her an annoying roommate. The subjective perspective is put to trial through the usage of a vlog as a narration device as Laura aspires to become a journalist, but the voices of the others characters always intervene. The female characters (the majority of the characters) are gender queer, strong, taking decision for themselves. One of the governesses is