"To the Ladies" Tone Analysis Essay

The Change and Evolution of the Author’s Tone in “To the Ladies”
Lady Mary Chudleigh, the author of the poem “To the Ladies”, is able to use tones including sarcasm, obedience, and pride to create a more charismatic poem while simultaneously displaying the stages the speaker takes to ultimately question marriage. While the poem introduces women as submissive, essentially only existing to serve men, the speaker later provides a tone of experience from what could possibly be her own marriage. Her knowledge allows her to administer advise to women on their own marriages. As the poem progresses the speaker’s tone evolves, ultimately mocking men of their so-called power. By the end of the poem the speaker’s voice encourages women to take control and be confidant in who they are by avoiding marriage. Chudleigh uses tones such as frustration, obedience, sarcasm and confidence, to empower wives to question the necessity of marriage and convince women to grasp their own independence.  
Chudleigh begins the poem with a tone of frustration over how women are shown to be nothing more than a housemaid but, being a women herself and having no say in the matter, she carries a voice of obedience, simply stating her thoughts on marriage. She quickly makes her thoughts on a wife’s role evident, when in the first line of the poem she says, “wife and servant are the same” (Chudleigh 1). Almost instantaneously, she is acknowledging women to be lesser than their male counterparts. Through her tone we can see that it is clearly upsetting to the speaker that men have such an overwhelming power over women. The speaker says nothing to negate this statement demonstrating a tone of frustration over the matter, but still a voice of obedience. Later in the poem her dissatisfied attitude is again brought to light when it says “when she the word obey has said/and man by law supreme has made” (Chudleigh 5-6). The speaker again recognizes the statement but does nothing to address it, once again representing the speaker’s obedient tone. At this point in the poem the speaker has only demonstrated her anger with the status of wives. She has remained obedient and has said nothing more that what is expected of her. As the voice of frustration and obedience continues, the tone ultimately evolves and begins to question men as well as marriage.  
As the poem continues, a tone of sarcasm, a voice somewhat insulting men, begins to unfold.  This new attitude towards men and marriage is first exhibited when the speaker says, “him still must serve, him still obey/and nothing act, and nothing say/but what her haughty lord sees fit” (Chudleigh 17-19). The use of the word “haughty” is an underlying remark towards men, ridiculing them and their so-called power. Through her tone the speaker is able to discreetly belittle a man’s superiority to women. She is able to insult overly controlling husbands, tarnish a man’s pride and encourage women to question the authority their husbands have over them.  Once more the speaker’s sarcastic voice is shown when she says,” who with the pow’r, has all the wit” (Chudleigh 20). Chudleigh again questions a husband’s authority, essentially saying that a husband would never posses such satire if he did not have all the control. The speaker’s scornful tone towards men and their power, allows women to question the power their husbands have over them. Through her sarcastic voice the speaker possess the ability to empower women to continue questioning their husbands’ authority and ultimately raises questions on their marriage as an entirety.
 Ultimately, Chudleigh is able to use the speaker’s confident and empowering voice to advise women to abstain from marriage and the control of men. The speaker now begins to clearly demonstrate her prior experience through the confidence we can see in her voice. In the poem she blatantly says, “ and all the fawning flatt’rers hate” (Chudleigh 22). The speaker is so confident in herself and her outlook on marriage that she feels comfortable encouraging women to avoid possible suitors. The confidence in her voice clearly comes to play when she says, “value your selves, and men despise” (Chudleigh 23). Once more the speaker is talking directly to women, voicing her opinion and showing women that they are entitled to their independence. The speaker uses her confident tone to force women to question the necessity of marriage and ultimately says, “you must be proud, if you’ll be wise” (Chudleigh 24). The tone of experience and confidence is clearly depicted in this line. The speaker uses her confident voice to empower women to question marriage and find their own independence.
In the poem “To the Ladies” Chudleigh uses tones of frustration, submission, sarcasm and confidence to voice her opinions on the independence of women as well as marriage. Her approach towards her audience and the changes in her tone, walk women through the stages of taking hold of their independence. Chudleigh is able to use the speaker’s voice to instill a hope of freedom in a woman’s life. Chudleigh teaches us to question the things we might not agree with in life, either marriage or anything else we may encounter. Ultimately, the author’s tone in the poem, “To the Ladies” empowers us to be proud, confident and independent people.