Social Ideals in Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus"
Created | Updated Aug 1, 2013
"Lady Lazarus" and Social Ideals
Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" is not what it first appears to be, a straightforward poem about suicide. The poem is a reaction to the oppressive patriarchy of the early sixties, a culture that did not welcome or support her. Plath absorbed the social cues and customs that alienated her, and explored and reacted to them in her writing. Plath's later poems, which include "Lady Lazarus," reveal her feelings of resentment that grew from being trapped in this cyclical and oppressive atmosphere, and the feeling of being blocked and prevented from truly achieving. In "Lady Lazarus," Plath's autobiographical account of her suicide, she expresses her anger at these restrictions while exploring themes of confinement, repression, and how it feels to live as a woman artist in a male-dominated society. She uses simile and cryptic historical allusions as a way of distancing herself from her inner being, and the disjointed structure of the poem shows seething emotions that are desperately fighting their way to the surface.
Since simile is a concise and vivid way of describing a scene, it is used by many poets. In "Lady Lazarus," however, Plath seems to use carefully constructed similes as a way to portray herself as a victim and object and to vilify her enemies. Her skin is "a sort of walking miracle," (line 4) something to be publicly viewed. She expresses her disdain for these seemingly concerned onlookers, calling them the "Peanut-crunching crowd," (26) and warning them that there is "a very large charge" (61) for viewing her body. By characterizing the concerned public as a rubbernecking mob entranced by the sensational, she shows how helpless and out of place she feels, as if she knows there is nothing to be done about her situation; instead she is trapped in the glass bubble of woman/artist unable to change her culture.
The poem's sentences are organized in a rigid structure that mimics the inflexible gender roles of her day. Just as a woman had to be submissive and slavish to be a part of the social hierarchy, the poem's lines have to wrap around and contort themselves in order to fit the poem's structure. They are forced to conform with the three line per stanza form, to the point of being broken off mid-statement. These abrupt transitions give the poem a tense feel, as if the writer is stressed to the point of acquiring strict self-control, strict to the point of being self-destructive.
Plath's deeply felt guilt about being a German during World War II manifests itself in her frequent allusions to the World War II time period, particularly the Holocaust. She drew a parallel between living as a woman in the sixties and life in a Holocaust concentration camp. Her doctors, the ones condemning her to a life of repetition and conformity, are the Nazis, "Herr Doktor" and "Herr Enemy" (65-66). The description she offers of herself is filled with concentration camp references. Her skin is said to be "as bright as a Nazi lampshade," (5) an eerie image evoking a sallow and unearthly glow, referring to the lampshades Nazis made out of the skins of their victims. The title itself gives a large clue to the poem's content- Lazarus was a biblical character that Jesus resurrected. She sees herself as this "Lady Lazarus," resigned to a life of death and forced rebirth, stuck in an endless cycle.
For women, the sixties were, in Betty Freidan's words, "a comfortable concentration camp ;physically luxurious, mentally oppressive and impoverished." Sylvia Plath was a victim of this comfortable concentration camp, her life forever compromised by the roles others forced upon her. In Lady Lazarus, Sylvia Plath does many things: she explores her guilt about being German during World War II, rages against the patriarchal society that suppressed and compromised her talents, creates an autobiographical account of her suicide attempt, and over all, cries for help, as her final attempt at suicide succeeded less than a year later. These many overlapping themes cause the reader to examine commonly held beliefs and evaluate their effect on others. These themes coupled with its brutal first-person description of a descent towards suicide make "Lady Lazarus" one of the most effective and startling poems of its time.
Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" is not what it first appears to be, a straightforward poem about suicide. The poem is a reaction to the oppressive patriarchy of the early sixties, a culture that did not welcome or support her. Plath absorbed the social cues and customs that alienated her, and explored and reacted to them in her writing. Plath's later poems, which include "Lady Lazarus," reveal her feelings of resentment that grew from being trapped in this cyclical and oppressive atmosphere, and the feeling of being blocked and prevented from truly achieving. In "Lady Lazarus," Plath's autobiographical account of her suicide, she expresses her anger at these restrictions while exploring themes of confinement, repression, and how it feels to live as a woman artist in a male-dominated society. She uses simile and cryptic historical allusions as a way of distancing herself from her inner being, and the disjointed structure of the poem shows seething emotions that are desperately fighting their way to the surface.
Since simile is a concise and vivid way of describing a scene, it is used by many poets. In "Lady Lazarus," however, Plath seems to use carefully constructed similes as a way to portray herself as a victim and object and to vilify her enemies. Her skin is "a sort of walking miracle," (line 4) something to be publicly viewed. She expresses her disdain for these seemingly concerned onlookers, calling them the "Peanut-crunching crowd," (26) and warning them that there is "a very large charge" (61) for viewing her body. By characterizing the concerned public as a rubbernecking mob entranced by the sensational, she shows how helpless and out of place she feels, as if she knows there is nothing to be done about her situation; instead she is trapped in the glass bubble of woman/artist unable to change her culture.
The poem's sentences are organized in a rigid structure that mimics the inflexible gender roles of her day. Just as a woman had to be submissive and slavish to be a part of the social hierarchy, the poem's lines have to wrap around and contort themselves in order to fit the poem's structure. They are forced to conform with the three line per stanza form, to the point of being broken off mid-statement. These abrupt transitions give the poem a tense feel, as if the writer is stressed to the point of acquiring strict self-control, strict to the point of being self-destructive.
Plath's deeply felt guilt about being a German during World War II manifests itself in her frequent allusions to the World War II time period, particularly the Holocaust. She drew a parallel between living as a woman in the sixties and life in a Holocaust concentration camp. Her doctors, the ones condemning her to a life of repetition and conformity, are the Nazis, "Herr Doktor" and "Herr Enemy" (65-66). The description she offers of herself is filled with concentration camp references. Her skin is said to be "as bright as a Nazi lampshade," (5) an eerie image evoking a sallow and unearthly glow, referring to the lampshades Nazis made out of the skins of their victims. The title itself gives a large clue to the poem's content- Lazarus was a biblical character that Jesus resurrected. She sees herself as this "Lady Lazarus," resigned to a life of death and forced rebirth, stuck in an endless cycle.
For women, the sixties were, in Betty Freidan's words, "a comfortable concentration camp ;physically luxurious, mentally oppressive and impoverished." Sylvia Plath was a victim of this comfortable concentration camp, her life forever compromised by the roles others forced upon her. In Lady Lazarus, Sylvia Plath does many things: she explores her guilt about being German during World War II, rages against the patriarchal society that suppressed and compromised her talents, creates an autobiographical account of her suicide attempt, and over all, cries for help, as her final attempt at suicide succeeded less than a year later. These many overlapping themes cause the reader to examine commonly held beliefs and evaluate their effect on others. These themes coupled with its brutal first-person description of a descent towards suicide make "Lady Lazarus" one of the most effective and startling poems of its time.
