In this letter, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu sends a letter to her daughter discussing a variety of topics such as the importance of being a knowledgeable woman, society’s expectations of women versus her own, family affairs, etc. Arguably, the most important point that is brought up in this letter is Lady Montagu’s advice she gives to her daughter regarding her granddaughter as she gets older and learns more about the world. Lady Montagu wanted the best not only for her daughter, but her granddaughter as well. She wants the women in her life to be very well educated in order for them to not be conformed to another run of the mill housewife role that was expected of them during that time. She justifies this position by utilizing the rhetoric conventions of pathos and what I believe is to be ethos as well. In regards to pathos, clearly she knows her audience since it is her own daughter and by knowing that she is able to discuss and recall important memories and events within her daughter’s childhood that would serve as concrete evidence to the importance of education. She’s relying on the emotions her daughter felt growing up to solidify her (Lady Montagu’s) argument. Besides pathos, I believe ethos is at play here since Lady Montagu is using her position as a mother to establish her credibility when it comes to raising a daughter. Not only that, but she even recalls a time where she “saved one of [her] companions from destruction” because a man her companion had fancied wooed her with some lines stolen from Randolph’s Poems. Overall, I believe her argument is valid since she wants the best for both her daughter and granddaughter and by being educated they, once again, won’t be conformed to society’s standards of women. And by using the rhetorical conventions stated before, her argument is proven to be more effective.

I believe the relationship shared by Lady Montagu and her daughter is a personal but informal one. I want to say it’s possibly an informal one because they appear to be close since but due to Lady’s writing and perhaps the time period they lived in, I’m leaning more towards a formal relationship. I believe Lady Montagu intended this letter to be a private one since it’s to her daughter and they’re discussing the importance of a women’s education which I believe wasn’t a very acceptable topic during the timeframe this letter was written.