Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy"
In the poem “Daddy” Sylvia Plath writes of her father who died when she was young, but even further she writes of another man in her life, her husband. Towards the end of the poem it can be read as her finding a husband like the memories of her father. “I made a model of you, A man in a Meinkampf look”. I think in some ways this was Plath’s way of continuing her father’s legacy and keeping his memories alive.
Sadly, by the end of the poem, it no longer feels as though Plath is reminiscing about her father; rather it feels as though she is blaming him for the depression she has experienced throughout her life. The last stanza reads, “There’s a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”. When listening to Plath read this stanza in class, you could feel the anger and frustration in her voice. I believe that if we use “The Bell Jar” as an autobiography and believe that her mother did not allow her at the funeral, I argue that Plath may not have been able to manage her grief as a kid which led to more anxiety and depression throughout her life.
In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Lady Lazarus” we witness her grapple with death and renewal similar to Esther in “The Bell Jar”. Plath also describes the numbness often associated with numbness in “Lady Lazarus”. “Ash, Ash- You poke and stir. Flesh, Bone, there is nothing there-”. In this stanza of the poem I read it as Plath being poked and prodded, and annoyed by doctors or therapists while all she doesn’t really feel anything, mentally, like many others with depression, “there is nothing there-”.
In the “Bell Jar” after Esther’s first night out with Doreen, she takes a bath to renew and cleanse her soul. This idea of renewal is continued in “Lady Lazarus” as Plath writes “Out of the ash I rise with red hair And I eat men like air”. In this stanza, Plath is relating to a phoenix, with the idea that she can die and rise again and be reborn. Throughout this stanza and the entire poem, it feels as though Plath truly believes she will rise again, that this depressive episode will pass like the others and she will survive. Unfortunately, we know that this is not true as she dies roughly 3 months later.
I haven't seen anyone else write about "Daddy" yet so I'm excited to read this post! I agree that Plath's father brought up many different feelings for her as she talks about wanting to preserve her memories of him but eventually shifts to being angry, and it makes sense that some of these feelings could be attributed to her mother's role in Plath's grieving. I hadn't thought about Plath's numbness in Lady Lazarus, although I get how it shows her depression and how it presents with other people around.
ReplyDeleteHey Cate, Sylvia's constant reference to her father as a Nazi really paints the picture that he was some sort of oppressor to her. Both of these poems were quite confusing on Sylvias stance on her father. I also liked how you mentioned her rebirth aspect of the book, which was present in both the Bell Jar and Lady Lazarus. Her resurrections are all artificial, being brought back by some (Nazi?) doctors, almost against her will, representing the doctors and treatments she took in the mental hospital.
ReplyDeleteHi Cate! Great post! I think it's really important that you noted how Esther not being allowed to go to her father's funeral definitely made it difficult for her to manage her emotions and trauma in the future. I also appreciate how you connected the themes of renewal in The Bell Jar with those in Lady Lazarus, because it's important to see how Plath had these cycles of feeling like she will be reborn and changed for the better.
ReplyDeleteHi Cate! Your comparison between The Bell Jar and Plath's poems do show the clear correlation between Plath's own personal writing and the character (Esther) she created for The Bell Jar. Plath's idea of rebirth through the phoenix is showcased heavily in "Lady Lazarus" as she references flames frequently throughout. The correlations highlight the state of Plath's mind and what was not only troubling her in her personal life but also how it affected her mental health as well.
ReplyDeleteI can hear Plath's voice in my head, with the line "Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I'm through," based solely on your mention of it here. I agree that the strong emotion is audible in this line, but I tend to read this poem as MORE about and directed to her estranged husband, Ted Hughes, than to her late father, who exists in a more "symbolic" capacity in this poem. It's hard to see Esther's father from the novel in this portrait of a "fascist" patriarchal figure--the kind and gentle man who died when Esther was ten, as she describes the memory of walking on the beach with him as "the last time I was happy." There are some biographical elements of Mr. Plath in "Daddy," to be sure--especially the references to the Polish town where he was from, and the German language (which Plath also parodies in the novel). But the real force of the poem seems to be directed to the "model of you," the fascist husband who currently oppresses her. And like in "Lady Lazarus," I do hear a surprising tone of empowerment and mockery in some of these lines ("Every woman adores a fascist," etc.). It's like she's taunting Ted Hughes by comparing him to her fascist father figure, and even at this late point in her life, she seems to be having some twisted kind of FUN doing it.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these poems are so raw in these performances--she had just written them, hadn't yet published them, and was revealing them to the world for the first time.
Hi Cate! Your post made it super clear who intertwined all of Plath's work is with her life. After reading this, I feel like the story of the Bell Jar really isn't self contained and these poems give so much more background and depth to the story. Plath's tragic ending adds so much more depth to her work and--in a somewhat twisted way--gives her work and legacy even more meaning.
ReplyDeleteHi Cate, the way you connected Plath’s poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” to The Bell Jar was great, especially how you linked the themes of death, renewal, and unresolved grief. Your analysis of Plath's anger and numbness, both in her poetry and Esther’s experiences, was powerful and showed a deep understanding of how these emotions shaped her work.
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