Karl Marx View On Marriage Analysis
Marx and Pozdnyshev Decry Marriage
The Catholic Church defines marriage as a covenant which by a man and a woman devote their entire lives to a mutual partnership. By its nature, marriage is ordered toward the good of the spouses, and has been elevated by Christ as a sacrament. (CCC 1601). In spite of the Church’s view on marriage, however, various writers such as Karl Marx and Leo Tolstoy have espoused a different position on the matter. This paper will explore the question: what does the Communist Manifesto and Leo Tolstoy’s character, Pozdnyshev, say about marriage? The thesis of this essay is that they are largely in agreement; they both believe marriage is an unnatural, hypocritical and an oppressive institution.
According to Karl Marx, marriage in bourgeois society is a farce. It is supposed to be hallowed and revered, but it is instead just another way for one class of people to exploit another. Marx claims
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Instead, “The bourgeois sees his wife a mere instrument of production.” (Marx, Chapter 1) They see their wives as mere tools, not as human beings to be valued for themselves. In addition, Marx accuses bourgeois men of treating their wives as sexual objects who can be used by anyone to satisfy their urges. He also charges that the bourgeois men of believing that they can take any woman they desire. He states, “Our bourgeois, not content with having wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each other 's wives.” (Marx, Chapter 1) Marx clearly sees bourgeois marriage as hypocritical. The bourgeoisie claim to love their families and believe in fidelity but instead they control their wives as just another means of production and treat all women as their sexual
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