Analysis of "madam and Her Madam"

The poem is setup in four line stanzas. Lines two and four of each stanza rhyme. In the first stanza Hughes uses a ironic tone. He establishes that the dislike is for work and not the person the work is being done for. In the second and third stanza Hughes continues to describe the hard work being done. He conveys to the reader a sense of frustration. He uses the words "too" and "then" to shows this. In line 3 of the third stanza Hughes states that the worker had nearly broken down. Explaining that for one human being that all this work is not possible, and eventually it will destroy the person. In the fourth stanza Hughes gives a sense of fighting back of the worker. The worker begins to question the Madam. He adds the imagery of a pack of horse (line 16), by which he describes the workload of the worker. By this the worker asks for help, and conveys that the worker needs other workers to help, and its not possible for a human being to work that much. In the fifth stanza we have a change of speakers, till now we have heard the worker, but now the madam speaks. Hughes chooses words like "cried", and "I love you so", to add to the drama of the madam speaking. In the sixth and final stanza the worker responds to the madam. He uses irony to end his poem, just as he began this poem. The worker says that although the madam might be telling the truth but shows that if the worker felt the same way, shell eventually be destroyed from all he work. The poem has a bitter sweet theme and tone. The poem shows that treatment given by the master in a speaking and emotional way doesn't out weight the workload. Using Hughes background as a black man, we can see that the treatment of black workers was harsh, in certain cases they were not treated badly on the outside (speaking), but they were treated harsh with the workload because either they were women or black.[/b]