"For she who marries purely to do good, to educate souls for heaven, who can be so truly mortified as to lay aside her own will and desires, to pay such an entire submission for life, to one whom she cannot be sure will always deserve it, does certainly perform a more heroic action than all the famous masculine heroes can boast of, she suffers a continual martyrdom to bring glory to God, and benefit to mankind; which consideration indeed may carry her through all difficulties, I know not what else can, and engage her to love him who proves perhaps so much worse than a brute, as to make this condition yet more grievous than it needed to be." - Mary Astell Thoughts on Marriage
I want to break this post up into two parts, so as not to make your brains completely explode. What are your thoughts on what Astell writes here? What would you think if I told you that she never married?
Not unlike today, marriage in a social context had its value; especially to men. It was often seen as a contract, a business decision. Occasionally it was done for love. And there were unfortunate times when the marriage ended for one reason or another.
Nonetheless, marriage is a practice as old as the earth. Isn't it something we take more seriously than our culture demands?
2 comments:
Post a Comment