Slavery
Mill—a man writing about women at a time when women has essentially no rights—is to be given credit for metaphorically insisting that the only slavery left in England at the time was that of wives. Unfortunately, within the construct of a completely different simile, one might well question the validity of Mill’s fundamental understanding of slavery itself:
“Hardly any slave, except one immediately attached to the master's person, is a slave at all hours and all minutes; in general he has, like a soldier, his fixed task, and when it is done, or when he is off duty, he disposes, within certain limits, of his own time, and has a family life into which the master rarely intrudes.”
Choice
The bane of women then and now has been that man has often been the arbiter of deciding what their choices in life will be. Again, Mill is certainly to be congratulated for expressing an overall progressive conceptualization of subjugation of women, but when one delves into the specifics, things get murky. For instance, this metaphorical comparison of housewifery as a career choice:
“Like a man when he chooses a profession, so, when a woman marries, it may in general be understood that she makes choice of the management of a household, and the bringing up of a family, as the first call upon her exertions.”
On Liberty, Again
Arguably, Mill’s most famous work is the essay, “On Liberty.” This particularly essay is fairly long and the word “liberty” only appears about ten times. Five of those appearances are in just one paragraph, however, and in that paragraph Mill metaphorically—but quite strongly—suggests that by enjoying the liberty extended to them to beautify themselves, women have been standing in the way of their own ascendance:
“Hence also women's passion for personal beauty, and dress and display; and all the evils that flow from it, in the way of mischievous luxury and social immorality. The love of power and the love of liberty are in eternal antagonism.”
Seeing What One Expects
Mill creates a metaphorical link between the passage of a person on a journey and the passage of history as a journey of time. This metaphor is intended to reveal that in both cases—that facts and reality will almost always be subservient to perception. One sees what one expects, hopes or just plain wants to see because:
“in history, as in traveling, men usually see only what they already had in their own minds; and few learn much from history, who do not bring much with them to its study.”
Metaphorical, Literal or Both?
Let’s return to the beginning of this section on Mill’s use of metaphor. After spending the first three chapters expounding at great length upon the institution of marriage, it is in the opening paragraphs of Chapter IV that Mill finally arrives at his point. The question here, however, is one of complexity: is his assertion here meant to be taken metaphorically or literally? Another possibility is that it is meant to be both; perhaps one to group believing a certain way and the other to those believing the opposite. This possibility also raises an interesting question: can something be both metaphorical and literal to the same person?
“Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house.”
