Mill, a pre-Freudian thinker, has been criticized for not understanding the crucial role of sexuality in shaping personality. Freud translated “The Enfranchisement of Women,” and the twelfth volume of Mill’s works, which appeared in Vienna in 1880. Freud as a translator was faithful to Mill’s original text, only with some major deviations on points related to Mill’s feminism due to his disagreement with Mill. This disagreement is especially apparent in the essay “The Enfranchisement of Women”, which is actually recognized to be written by Mill’s wife, Harriet Taylor. He writes about Mill:
“He was perhaps the man of the century who best managed to free himself from the domination of customary prejudices. On the other hand—and that always goes together with it—he lacked in many matters the sense of the absurd; for example, in that of female emancipation and in the woman’s question altogether.”
Freud expressed his disagreement with Mill’s views in a letter to his fiancée, stating he couldn’t see his “gentle sweet girl” as a competitor and preferred her in the peaceful, non-competitive environment of his home. He disagreed with Mill’s argument that a married woman could earn as much as her husband, criticizing Mill for overlooking the full-time nature of managing a household and raising children. He also found Mill’s autobiography overly modest, failing to recognize that the most fundamental difference is that between men and women. He disagreed with Mill’s comparison of women's suppression to that of racial oppression, believing that by nature, a woman’s role is defined through beauty and charm. Freud felt that while women’s legal status could be improved, their social role should remain the same, which is an “adored darling in youth” and “in mature years a loved wife.” Despite their different approach to feminism, Mill was still an important influence on Freud’s early writings.
