What Adultery Actually Is - Essay Example

This article, Adultery (Ethics), was written by François-Vincent Toussaint, Claude Yvon, and Denis Diderot in 2009. The authors used an explicit and clear approach to discuss the act of adultery. The authors claimed adultery to be one of the most punishable crimes because of the very negative impact that it leaves on society. The authors did not give any positive assumptions or viewpoints about adultery rather they criticized it as a very disgraceful act. In the article, the focus was not on the identification of adultery as a crime or as a disgraceful act, which harms the roots of a society; rather the focus was on determining the damage that it produces for a society. The authors discussed the impact of two of the most disgraceful acts on society, which included dishonoring the wife of some other person and getting involved in unprotected sex with a single woman.

            The authors claimed adultery by the feelings of the people to be the most punishable crime after homicide because of the severe consequences associated with this act. The authors also claimed the effects of adultery on single women to be more adverse as it increases the number of illegal births. The authors observed all aspects of society and came up with the belief that children who take birth due to illegal sexual intercourse have no proper future because society does not accept their existence. Moreover, their mothers also cannot give them their due love and care because they lose their innocence and maternal tenderness due to the act of forced intercourse. The authors revealed that such children do live a good life if society does not know the truth about their birth and if their parents become successful in keeping illegal birth a secret.

            In the article, the authors opposed the irregular union of men and women. “The ruin of fertility and the opprobrium of society are the infallible results of irregular unions” (Toussaint, Yvon, & Diderot, 2009). The authors claimed it to be a ruin of fertility because of the setback, which occurs to the position of those mothers who do not know their responsibilities towards their illegal children. The authors also revealed that such children do not get quality education, food, or shelter and live without any constraints or principles.

            The authors claimed the doctrine and zeal of the Church to be the healthiest aspect of a society because it honors only celibacy. In the next part of the article, the authors highlighted different concepts and laws related to the act of adultery in earlier civilizations. It is revealed in the article that Emperor Augustus was the first ever person in Rome who implemented the Julia law in which the accused was given the death penalty. Emperor Theodosius was very harsh with the act of adultery. In his era, wives who alleged adultery were given to the public so that everyone could put his/her anger out on them by any means. After Emperor Augustus, several other Emperors came who abrogated the law of permitting outsiders to make adultery accusations.

            The authors claimed that adultery is not viewed as a public crime in most European countries and only the husband has the authority to accuse his wife of adultery. The authors revealed that there were different laws in different countries regarding the act of adultery. Justinian’s Civil law was also described in some detail in the article. Moreover, the authors also described current laws regarding adultery and their level of strictness.

            The authors summed up the discussion by stating Greek and Eastern Christians laws. In the last part, the consequences of doing adultery for an English woman were described to make the readers understand the English law regarding adultery. “In England, if a married woman abandons her husband to live with an adulterer, she loses her dowry, and cannot require her husband to give her any other income” (Toussaint, Yvon, & Diderot, 2009).