Example research essay topic: Daddy By Sylvia Plath - 1,112 words

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Daddy by Sylvia Plath The paper will be concentrated on the discussion of the poem Daddy, written by Sylvia Plath, in connection with her personal life and the life of the society with its integral phenomena of female victimization and patriarchy. The poem was written in 1963, at the period of the brightest flourishing of patriarchy and female victimization. The poem is read through the prism of Plath's hatred towards her father and husband, though the main thesis of this work will be the following: the poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath should be viewed in much broader sense, as it represents the whole female society as victims of the patriarchy, in which they got used to live, loving and hating their husbands and fathers simultaneously. You do not do, you do not do Any more, black shoe In which I have lived like a foot For thirty years, poor and white, Barely daring to breathe or Achoo. The black shoe here is represented as a symbol of humiliation, in which not only the author, but a great number of women lived at that time, and continue to live nowadays. Black shoe is an image of dark environment, dark not physically, but psychologically, in which many women, being psychologically white have not to live, but to exist.

To my mind, the poem was an attempt of Sylvia Plath to make us see the horrors of female lives, which we usually dont notice, or pretend not to notice. The comparison with Achoo and further use of such comparisons as An engine, an engine/Chuffing me off like a Jew. /A Jew to/Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. /I began to talk like a Jew. /I think I may well be a Jew make us think about the hopelessness and frustration, through which Plath and other women had to go at the time. The main point here is that everyone understands, but no one alive has ever felt the hopelessness and frustration, through which Jews had to go appearing in concentration camps like Dachau. Thus, this comparison is an example of the poetess representing these feelings in the real situation with women in modern society.

Plath sounds as she is in rage, a woman in rage, who is still a child, which is easily seen through her frequent use of the word Daddy, but is it a childish trick, or just another sign of unlimited fear towards her father in her plead not to hurt her anymore? Isnt it a sign of symbolic relations between an oppressor and an oppressed? The poem is related to the description of the two men from Plath's life her father and her husband, who represent the atrocities, through which she had to go. These atrocities are symbolic and show the real situation in the female part of the human society. The vampire who said he was you And drank my blood for a year, Seven years, if you want to know. Daddy, you can lie back now.

The comparison of Plath's father and the image of vampire tells us about the fact, that memory can hardly die and the reminiscences of horrors hardly go from our minds. The image of the vampire is eternal, the same as the image of Plath's father is eternal in her mind. Women can rarely forget the pain and humiliation they go through with their men. It can be read between the lines, that only death usually brings relief. As the poem tells us about the two men in Plath's life - her father and her husband, it is very important to note, that her husband carries the image, similar to that of her father. It is very frequent situation in psychology, and this proves that the poetess was a good psychologist herself, when a woman chooses her husband according to the characteristics of her cruel and angry father, doing this unconsciously.

Thus, a woman is oppressed on both sides, and killing the memory of one man will bring the destruction of memory in relation to both of them: If Ive killed one man, Ive killed two. The comparisons and the use of Nazi and Holocaust terminology is not just the means of describing the cruelty, through which Plath had to go herself in her personal life. It is a very complex allegory, through which she shows the situation in the society in relation to the most of women. This allegory represents the mass victimization of female society and the superiority of men, which is called patriarchy. Every woman adores a Fascist in boots the phrase is referred to the women, who reject any opposition to such male attitude towards them and accept the roles they play in the society the roles of the cook, the laundress, the nurse, etc. , anything but not a human being. Was Plath a feminist?

It is difficult to say, taking into account the events of her real life. She had too suicide attempts, and the second one appeared to be successful. Her fathers death might have brought certain inner disagreements in her mind and soul, which later made her see the whole world as the world, where women take an unfair and humiliating position. The childish word Daddy represents the sharp transition of the young girls with their innocence into the real world with household chores and childbearing. The cry of Plath is not only a cry for the father, whom she lost being a child it is a cry for all men, who leave their women alone with their problems and pains. Plath has been both physically and emotionally abandoned by both her father and her husband, thus her poem appears to be a kind of rebellion against the superior role of men in the society and the patriarchy as a notion.

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.

This last passage of the poem shows the imaginary victory of women in their fight against oppression, though the poem in reality condemns womens silence and reconciliation with the attitude men carry towards them. The repetitions of the poem sound like hysteria, like the last hope and the last call for assistance and the last plead to hear Plath in her attempt of fighting against the oppression. This stanza represents a perfect dream to which women should strive in their wish to take equal and fair positions in the society. Plath's imagination drew a picture of her getting rid of all bad memories, though we all know it is impossible for all women of Earth.

Research essay sample on Daddy By Sylvia Plath