Sample Essay (in English) - Wissenschaftliche Arbeit (auf Englisch)

His written advice was published during his lifetime and became so popular that it went through twenty-five editions.[1] Lord Halifax was a man of his time expressing his views and opinions of married life and the differences between the genders. He felt strongly that despite gender-based inequalities, it is necessary for a woman to uphold what is settled by God and the common law.

The Disadvantaged Sex

In the letter to his daughter Elizabeth, Lord Halifax expressed his understanding of the obstacles young women had to deal with by saying “it is one of the disadvantages belonging to your sex, that young women are seldom permitted to make their own choice”.[2] The experiences and guidance of family elders were thought of as safer guides than the desires of young women. This often resulted in girls ending up with a husband without their consent. [3] The advice given to Elizabeth was similar to the advice other girls received from caring family members, which was to make the best of the life they had been given and to act as a supportive and caring wife.[4]

Lord Halifax recommended that she “must first lay it down for a foundation in general, that there is inequality in the sexes”.[5] During this era and for the most part of history, men were the main lawmakers resulting in marriage regulation in the favor of men. Lord Halifax also articulated that although the law seems to benefit only men, as time passes, this somehow becomes an advantage for women.[6]

Women as Equals during Lord Halifax’s Time

Beginning in the sixteenth century, there was a succession of contemporary writers who claimed that women's mental abilities were equal to that of men's if they were properly developed. This view was opposed by the majority that felt women should be excluded from education and did not have the capabilities that men did and insisted that the weaker sex receive lesser rights. A well-known conservative feminist named Mary Astell argued that the women's exclusion from education, was devised by men in order to secure their own education to easily maintain their dominant position over women. In Astell's book 'A Serious Proposal to the Ladies' (1675) she explains that well-educated women would be better suited for their responsibilities and make better companions to their husbands. In contrast to feminists that followed her she insisted that the family sphere was the proper place for women but still wanted to free them from the tyranny of fashion and custom.[7]

Different Types of Husbands

In marriage, women had certain duties to fulfill in the seventeenth century and Lord Halifax explained this to his young daughter by touching on a few scenarios, that included an alcoholic, cheating, violent, sick, and incompetent husband. In his letter, he expressed his view about women’s disposition by explaining that a woman should be glad to have a husband with faults because a husband without faults would be a dangerous observer as he would have such a clear view that the wives faults would be left exposed. Lord Halifax felt that it was the wife’s duty to handle her husband’s faults by guiding him. He also warned his daughter that an ill-humored husband can just as easily bring kindness without reason as he could anger, and that a good wife would be able to redirect his wrath into the direction best suited for the family.

[1] Shannon Parker, History 499: History of the Family in Western Europe From the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, Study Guide, Ed. Carol Schafer (Canada: Athabasca University, 1995).

[2] Ibid, 85.

[3] Ralph A. Houlbrooke, The English Family 1450-1700, ed. J. Stevenson (Canada: Athabasca University, 2011).

[4] Parker, History 499: History of the Family in Western Europe From the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, Study Guide.

[5] Ibid, 85.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Houlbrooke, The English Family 1450-1700.