Adultery in the Seventeenth Century Essay Example For Students

Adultery in the Seventeenth Century Essay Throughout the history of civilization, most adult humans have foundthat pairing off is the best way to start and raise a family.Everyculture has its own way of treating these pairings from lifelongpartnerships to a promise of just a few years.Some have been made forlove and some for money. In some relationships, both partners are expectedto remain faithful, in others only one is allowed to stray, and sometimesboth members are given a free rein. A lot of this is decided by economicfactors and the amount of stress that each culture puts on the subject ofadultery. During the seventeenth century, the British had a very uniqueway of looking at adultery that had little to do with love and much to dowith money. By looking at Thomas Middletons A Chaste Maid in Cheapsideand several documents from the seventeenth century, one can see whocheated, why they cheated, and some of the possible consequences ofadultery. There are some instincts that people have developed over millennia ofhunting and gathering that are little inconvenient in modern society.Oneof those instincts is the desire to procreate a lot. That is the majorreason why men find it so desirable to cheat on their wives. For a man, itis possible to create a child every time he has sex with a woman as long asits a different woman each time. In early civilizations, men had morestatus if they could provide for more women and their children.Ratherlike a pride of lions, in many early societies, there were a few men whowere in charge of the village or community, and they had access to all thewomen and fathered all the children. In return for being the fathers ofthe next generation, they had to hunt and kill to provide for theirchildren and women (Fisher 87-88). This desire for children hadnt diminished by thetimetheseventeenth century rolled around. In early modern England, men were veryconcerned about fathering children and providing them with an inheritance. In A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Sir Walter Whorehound and Sir Oliver Kix areboth noblemen who want to have children. Sir Walter keeps the Allwits sothat he may sleep with Mrs. Allwit. Mr. Allwit helps raise the childrenthat his wife has with Sir Walter in exchange for money and goods.SirWalter is actually very protective and jealous of Mrs. Allwits affections. He even asks Mr. Allwit if he were once offering to go to / bed to her(Middleton I.ii.105-6) in a backwards representation of a mans jealousyconcerning his wife. To Sir Walter, it is very important that he knows thechildren are his. He even has a servant that watches the Allwits house tomake sure Mr. Allwit never sleeps with his wife. Sir Oliver and his wife, Lady Kix, are in a different situation. They have money and want to have children Animal Rights Protests EssayBut if adultery is a sin against God, then shouldnt the church dealwith these sinners as they do with others (D.T. 10)?It would certainlymake sense on some levels to leave the punishment of adulterers to thechurch since they hold it as such a terrible crime. However, many realizedthat it would be difficult to discover or prove adultery without aconfession or an eyewitness (D.T. 10). In some cases however, adultery canaffect the legal status of a person. If a woman bears a child that is nother husbands, then that child can be denied any inheritance.Also, thenoblemen of England felt that they should not have to raise and support theillegitimate children of their wives and they definitely shouldnt have topass on their wealth to sons who werent truly theirs. Because of these beliefs, the penalties for people caught committingadultery were extremely harsh. In 1650 Parliament actually passed a lawthat stated:And be it further enactedthat in case any married womanshallbe carnally known by any man (other than her husband, exceptin cases of ravishment) and of such offense or offenses shall beconvicted as aforesaid by confession otherwiseand isherebyadjudged felony, andshall suffer death as in case of felony withoutbenefit of clergy (England 828).For men, the punishment was just as harsh, but only if they were caughtsleeping with a married woman (England 828).Any other extra-maritalaffairs were simply ignored as unimportant.Whats unusual and unfairabout all of this is that a woman can be put to death for sleeping withanyone other than her husband, but other than saying men are not allowed tosleep with other mens wives, this Act makes no mention of a married manand his lovers. One example of this law against adulteress women occurred late in theseventeenth century. The Duke of Norfolks wife, Mary, was accused ofadultery and brought before certain members of Parliament to plead hercase. The Duke and Duchess both brought forth a series of witnessesincluding servants and friends. Several of the Dukes witnesses said theysaw the Duchess in her chambers and undressed while another man was there. They did eventually find her guilty of adultery, but rather than have herexecuted, the members of Parliament let the Duke have a divorce (Norfolk 1-22). So why would anyone confess to adultery when its possible that itwill lead to death? The vast majority of people who would cheat on theirspouses are not the sort of people who feel bad enough about it afterwardto ask Parliament to cut off their heads, so it is highly doubtful thatmany people ever confessed after that particular law was passed. Male or female, rich or poor, it seems that everyone in theseventeenth century had a reason to cheat on his or her spouse.Thecharacters in Middletons A Chaste Maid in Cheapside represent all sides ofthis bizarre web of adulterers and their partners in crime.Men like SirWalter did it to have more children or just for fun. Women like the WelshGentlewoman wanted affection and security. Rich people did it because itwas entertaining and poor people did it for money. Even facing the sort ofconsequences of these actions, many men and quite a few women wereunfaithful to their spouses. There were religious beliefs and laws thatthey ignored for the sake of physical pleasure and desire.Perhaps thereason humans have such a high opinion of fidelity is because it is sodifficult for them to achieve it.