Lady Chudleigh’s 16th century poem To the Ladies, instructs a woman to reflect long and hard on the word “Obey” when vowing her heart, hand and life in marriage. She indicates that a woman will lose not only her autonomy, but must also forgo all rights to her own ideas, personality, and her sense of humor.
In line 1, the speaker declares that the status of a wife and servant are the same in the eyes of a husband. This is a commonly accepted view for the early 1700’s, and in some ways, is as true now as then.