THE REFLECTION OF SYLVIA PLATH’S SUICIDAL MANNER
AND SUICIDE ATTEMPTS IN “LADY LAZARUS” AS SEEN
THROUGH THE IMAGERY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
FAJAR ADITYA YUNARTO Student Number: 014214115
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
]âwzx ÇÉà? à{tà çx ux ÇÉà }âwzxwA
YÉÜ ã|à{ ã{tà }âwzÅxÇà çx }âwzx tÇw ã|à{ ã{tà ÅxtáâÜx çx
Åxàx? |à á{tÄÄ ux ÅxtáâÜxw àÉ çÉâ tzt|Ç
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to
My bel ved mothe o r
e e
My special sister
My loyal brother
and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank my God the almighty, Jesus Christ, for the blessing and guidance, and for giving me the strength to finish my thesis.
My gratitude goes to my family for being my motivation, and for their supports to my education, their love and patience. My special thank goes to Telica, my beloved person, for her love, attention, patience, tenderness and care. This thesis would not have finished without her participation. I thank her for being a friend during those bad times and good times. I am sorry for many mistakes that I have done and for many tears that I gave.
I thank Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. as my advisor, for her time and her patience, and for her advice that is very helpful for my undergraduate thesis, and for being my academic advisor, for her helps during my time in the Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University. I also thank Gabriel Fajar Sasmita as my co-advisor, for the corrections and suggestions.
I thank all of my friends in the English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University that I cannot mention one by one for the cheerful friendship and colorful memories they have given to me. I also want to thank my friends Mita, Tommy, Deva, Wahyu, Troy, Tetra, and Andre for their helps and friendship that have given me the spirit to carry on.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the lecturers of the English Letters Department, staff, security, and all of the people that I cannot mention one by one for all the supports and helps.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3. Relationship between Literature and Biography... 13
C. Review of Sylvia Plath’s Life ... 14
C Sylvia Plath’s Suicidal Manner and Suicide Attempts Reflected in the Imagery of “Lady Lazarus” ... 50
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 76
APPENDIX ... 77
ABSTRACT
Fajar Aditya Yunarto (2006). The Reflection of Sylvia Plath’s Suicidal Manner and Suicide Attempts in “Lady Lazarus” as Seen through the Imagery, Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Author’s personal backgrounds, experiences, historical moment, and the life of the people around him/her usually influence the literary works he/she writes. Consciously or unconsciously the author expresses his/her feelings, thoughts, and memories in the work of art. Sylvia Plath is an author who often writes a literary work influenced by her personal life. “Lady Lazarus” is one of her works influenced by her personal life that is related to her suicidal manner and suicidal attempts.
The objectives of this study are, first, to find out how the imagery in the poem is inferred, the second is to reveal how the inference of the imagery reflects Sylvia Plath’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts.
This study applies library research method and uses a biographical approach. This study also applies three theories related to the topic. They are theories on imagery, theories on suicide, the relationship between literature and biography.
ABSTRAK
Fajar Aditya Yunarto (2006). The Reflection of Sylvia Plath’s Suicidal Manner and Suicide Attempts in “Lady Lazarus” as Seen through the Imagery, Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Latar belakang, pengalaman, momen sejarah, dan kehidupan orang-orang di sekitar sang penulis biasanya mempengaruhi karya-karya sastra yang ia tulis. Secara sadar atau tidak sadar sang penulis mengekspresikan perasaan-perasaan, pikiran-pikiran, dan memori-memorinya dalam karya sastra. Sylvia Plath adalah seorang penulis yang sering menulis karya sastra yang dipengaruhi oleh kehidupan pribadinya. “Lady Lazarus” adalah salah satu karyanya yang dipengaruhi oleh kehidupan pribadinya yang berhubungan dengan sikap bunuh diri dan percobaan-percobaan bunuh dirinya.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah, pertama, menemukan bagaimana pencitraan dalam puisi ini diuraikan, yang kedua adalah mengungkapkan bagaimana pencitraan mencerminkan sikap bunuh diri dan percobaan-percobaan bunuh diri Sylvia Plath.
Studi ini mengaplikasikan metode penelitian pustaka dan menggunakan pendekatan biografi. Studi ini juga menerapkan tiga teori yang berhubungan dengan topik. Teori tersebut adalah, teori imagery, teori bunuh diri, dan hubungan antara sastra dan biografi.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study
People who commit suicide are types of people who lack of solution in dealing with problems in life. The lack of solution might be caused by the lack of faith in religion. Moslems and Christians regard suicide as a sin (Coleman, 1976: 613). People who have a strong faith in religion must have known that there are heaven and hell as the reward for everything they do in this world. People who did something that is forbidden by the religion as suicide would be rewarded the everlasting hell “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 8: 44).”
According to Jim Smith in his book Abnormal Behavior, suicide is “the act of intentionally destroying oneself (Smith, 1984: 129).” According to Supratiknya, a person will not commit suicide if the person does not suffer from an abnormal behavior that is caused by psychosocial factors. People who committed suicide suffer these psychosocial factors: childhood traumatic experience, parental deprivation, pathogenic relationship between children and
their parents, and heavy stress (Supratiknya, 1995: 27-31).
vocalist of Nirvana, but also as the leader of the same band who made Nirvana one of the greatest bands in the world. Too bad his career ended with suicide on 7 April 1991, it was also the end of Nirvana. Being a famous artist who had many fans was not his dream, and he could not deal with it. A famous painter, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), committed suicide because he thought he could not become a great painter with the epilepsy that he had. In fact, he could only sell one painting for 400 Francs in his life. A famous politician, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), committed suicide after he failed winning the Second World War. A Nobel winning author Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961), Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), and Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) were famous authors who committed suicide (Iwantra, January 2005: 76-81). .
Suicide is a unique expression, and that is why suicide can be made into an interesting theme in literature. According to Wellek and Warren, through literary works, authors perpetuate and publish their fantasies (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 81-93). While according to Abrams, literary works have a close relation with their creators, because consciously or unconsciously through the literary works the authors express their feelings, thoughts, and experiences (Abrams, 1981: 20 – 22). Frankly speaking, when an author writes a literary work with suicide theme, he consciously or unconsciously delivers a bit something inside him in terms of psychology.
mind in term of psychology in writing his works will put the readers into a better understanding on the content of his works.
There are so many authors who wrote literary works contented with suicide theme. These are some of the list, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Doctor Marigold by Charles Dickens, “A Clean, Well Lighted Place” by Ernest
Hemingway, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and Hamlet by William Shakespeare (http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med). However, Sylvia Plath, an author who died of suicide, is the most interesting of them all. She even perpetuated her suicidal manner and suicide attempts through the imagery so clearly in one of her poems, “Lady Lazarus.”
Sylvia Plath was born in Massachusetts in 1932, depression had gotten into her since she was 8 years old, that was when her beloved father died of diabetes, and she swore not to talk to God again that day. At the age of 9, Plath started to think about suicide as she wrote in her journal. Every deduction and failure in love had darkened her life (Iwantra, January 2005: 77).
Her marriage to Ted Hughes, who was also a poet in 1956, could not heal her depression. Happiness in life that she expected from the marriage did not show up, moreover, Hughes had an affair with Assia Wevill. One day in one of their quarrels, Hughes told her that he wished she would kill herself, so that he could sell their house (Iwantra, January 2005: 77).
and sealed herself there to commit suicide with gas from the oven. Plath died at the age of 30 (Alexander, 1991: 328-330).
The researcher is going analyze “Lady Lazarus.” The poem does not only talk about suicide, but also mention the author’s actual suicides. Through imagery, or images that are taken collectively, the readers can see that the poem reflects the author’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts. The imagery will at least show that the speaker has exactly the same interest in dying like the author, because the author, Sylvia Plath, also died of suicide. The researcher believes that the poem “Lady Lazarus” is the most suitable literary work to study Sylvia Plath’s suicidal manner that led to some suicide attempts.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study, the researcher would like to discuss these two questions in the following chapter. The questions are as follows.
1. How is the imagery of “Lady Lazarus” inferred in the poem?
2. How is Sylvia Plath’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts reflected in the imagery in the poem?
C. Objectives of the Study
suicide attempts. For the first problem, the researcher will analyze the images of the poem to reveal the inference. The next step is to find out the similarities between the author’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts and the inference of the imagery. By finding out the similarities between the inference of the imagery and the author’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts, the explanation on how far the imagery reflects Sylvia Plath’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts will be accomplished.
D. Definition of Terms
In this part, the researcher would like to define some terms to help the readers to understand the content of this thesis. The terms are suicide, and suicidal manner.
1. Suicide
Suicide according to James C. Coleman is “taking one’s own life.” Suicide can be called as the act to destroy one self (Coleman, 1976: 603).
2. Suicidal Manner
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Joan Welz of the University of Alberta states that Sylvia Plath was a bright, intelligent, and determined young woman with a need to succeed and a burning desire to write. Plath’s literary reputation rests mainly on her carefully crafted pieces of poetry, particularly the verse that the author composed in the months leading up to her death (http://www.hum.ualberta.ca/eml).
Helen Vendler of The New Yorker said that Plath’s poems like “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” show that the author is talented and has an amazing skill in writing, it can obviously be seen from the words that are chosen by the author. Especially “lady Lazarus,” that almost every stanza picks up a new possibility of theatrical voice. For example, the words are made like mock movie talk (“So, so, Herr Doktor. / So, Herr Enemy”) to bureaucratic politeness, (“Do not think I underestimate your great concern”) to witch warnings (“I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men Like air”) (www.english.uiuc.edu).
Kathleen Margaret Lant in her thesis “The big striptease: female bodies and male power in the poetry of Sylvia Plath” says that “Lady Lazarus” shows how female subject offers pieces of herself that she displays herself not in assertive way, but in a sexually provocative and seductive way. The speaker of the poem “Lady Lazarus” wants her unveiling will to be noticed as a seductive gesture of submission and invitation (www.english.uiuc.edu).
The researcher has a different opinion about Plath’s writings. Perhaps those writings are intelligent and skillful writings for some people, but for the researcher, the most obvious in Plath writings are the backgrounds, the psychological moods, and the intentions of the author when writing. Not only are those, Plath’s writings are as the vehicle to shout her deepest fear, her inmost thoughts, and indirectly her suicidal manner that led to some suicide attempts. The researcher does not think of “Lady Lazarus” as a poem that reveals sexual provocation or seduction, but the researcher thinks of it as a reflection of the author’s psyche and life in term of suicide.
B. Review of Related Theories
In addition, the researcher needs to include the theory on how to discuss a poem. According to Rohrberger and Woods, essentially, what poetry expresses is not different from what either fiction or drama expresses. Plot, characterization, and theme are the absolute essentials of fiction and drama. However, poetry can use all those essentials. In narrative poems, many of the criteria used to judge fiction can be applied, and dramatic poems can be judge as little plays. Most poems are plotless or characterless, but never themeless (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 33). “Lady Lazarus” is a narrative poem, which is why the researcher analyses the poem using the technique to analyze a fiction.
1. Theory of Imagery
Imagery is “images” that are taken collectively to make poetry concrete, as opposed to abstract. In modern criticism, imagery is one of the most ambiguous and common term. The applications of imagery range all the way from the “mental pictures” that are experience by the reader of a poem to the totality of elements which make up a poem. In this case, an image can be a picture made out of word, and the poem may itself be an image composed from a multiplicity of images (Abrams, 1981: 78)
among those who do, the explicitness and detail of the mind pictures vary greatly. Imagery also includes auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or kinesthetic (sensation of movement), as well as visual qualities. Secondly, imagery can be used more narrowly to signify only descriptions of visual objects and scenes, especially if the description is vivid and particularized. Thirdly, imagery can also be used to signify figurative language, especially the vehicles of metaphors and similes (Abrams, 1981: 78 – 79).
Images, as they function in comparisons of various sorts, are important devices for interpretation. In that case, imagery shall not be idle and meaningless, dead or inert, or distracting or self-serving. Every bit of image ought to “make sense” and to aid the poem in its making sense the reader has to be open-minded, because there are many ways in which imagery may make its sense. The reader can only judge the accuracy of the images by understanding the context of the poem, because in this case, the images and the context become one unity (Brooks, 1960: 269 – 273)
metaphor gives the effect of powerful description and comparison (Brooks, 1960: 269 – 273).
The researcher will need to include the definition of allusion, metaphor and simile in order to recognize the imagery in the poem.
1. Allusion is a reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage. In another word, allusion is a reference that is used by the author based on the author’s private readings and experiences, in order to know the exact meaning, which the allusion signifies, the reader must understand the reference used by the author, the reader must study the background of the author. The uses of allusions are to expand upon or enhance a subject, but some are used in order to undercut it ironically by the discrepancy between the subject and the allusion (Abrams, 1981: 8). There are many kinds of allusion exist today, according to Jon Rosenblatt, there are at least four allusions used in the poem “Lady Lazarus,” biblical, historical, political, and personal allusion. However, the researcher finds that there is another allusion used in the poem, which is mythical allusion (www.english.uiuc.edu).
rose,” signifies the identity of “my love” instead of giving comparison of visual description although a red rose is a visual object.
3. Simile is a comparison between two distinctly different things that is indicated by the word “like” or “as” (Abrams, 1981: 65). For an example, “Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life,” the word “as” is the key to compare “heavy” to “frost” and “deep” to “life.”
2. Theories of Suicide
According to Jim Smith in his book Abnormal Behaviors, suicide is “the act of intentionally destroying oneself,” he also adds that suicide can be called as “a violent self-inflicted destructive action resulting in death.” He explains that the decision to commit suicide is usually a combination of a wish to live and a wish to die, this situation he explains as an ambivalence, which is meant to be a cry for help (1984: 129).
weaknesses of society. The causes are external or environmentally determined (Smith, 1984: 129-130).
James C. Coleman of University of California at Los Angeles declares that there are four causes of suicide. He calls it as stress factors in suicide. Paykel, Prusoff, and Myers detected these causes in 1975. They are, interpersonal crises, failure and self-devaluation, inner conflict, and loss the meaning and hope (1976: 606-608).
Interpersonal crises are interpersonal conflict and disruptions. These kinds
of conflicts are often found within the marital conflict, separation, divorce, or the loss of loved ones through death may result in severe stress and suicidal behavior. It is a combination of stressful factors such as frustration and hostility over feeling rejected, a wish for revenge, and a desire to withdraw from the highly conflictful and hurtful relationship but on which the individual feel dependent. In other case it also happens on the death of a loved one on whom the person felt dependent for emotional support and meaning in life (Coleman, 1976: 606-607). Failure and self-devaluation is the feelings of having failed in some enterprises which often
involving occupational aspirations and accomplishments (Coleman, 1976: 607). Inner conflict is when a person is situated on a debate with his own mind. He may
be anxious and confused, struggle with the meaning of life and death, and decide that he should not continue the struggle any longer (Coleman, 1976: 607). Loss of meaning and hope is when a person has no desire to live (Coleman, 1976: 607).
urges as a problem within the individual. The causes are frustrations that trigger an aggression to be directed inward, ambivalence that is a love-hate situation toward a lost parent or lost object, and grief work that is an abnormal desire to be reunited with a loved one (Smith, 1984: 130).
Sigmund Freud was the first to suggest that the unconscious, not the conscious governs a large part of human’s actions. This irrational part of human psyche, the unconscious, receives and stores hidden desire, ambitions, fears, passion, and irrational thoughts. Freud dramatically redefined the unconscious, believing it to be a dynamic system that not only contains biographical memories but also stores suppressed and unresolved conflicts in human mind. Still according to Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of disguised truths and desires that want to be revealed in and through the conscious (Bressler, 1999: 149-150).
3. The Relationship between Literature and Biography
According to Rohrberger and Woods, a work of art is a reflection of a personality, that in esthetic experience the reader shares the author’s consciousness, and that at least part of the reader’s response is to the author’s personality. Furthermore, Rohrberger says that they attempt to learn as much as they can about the life and development of the author and to apply this knowledge in their attempt to understand the author’s writing (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 8). In another word, a literary work has always been involved with the author.
investigation of the personality and the life of the author, it is a study of the man of genius, of his moral, intellectual, and emotional development, in which it has its own intrinsic interest. Biography can be used as affording materials for a systematic study of the psychology of the poet and of the poetic process (1956: 75). Furthermore, they claim that the most obvious cause of a work of art is its creator (Wellek and Waren, 1956: 75).
As the affording materials for systematic study of the psychology of the poet, the biography of the author is needed to study to reveal the author’s suicidal manner that lead her to some suicide attempts. There must be some explanation in psychology about Silvia Plath’s suicidal manner.
There are three points of view to be understood about biography. First, it explains and illuminates the actual product of poetry. The second advocates the intrinsic interest of biography, shifts the centre of attention to human personality. The third considers biography as material for science or future science, the psychology of artistic of creation (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 75).
D. Review on Sylvia Plath’s Personal Life
Sylvia Plath, a daughter of German immigrant parents, was born on October 27, 1932. Her father was a professor of biology at Boston University (Alexander, 1999: 12), who died of diabetes on November 5, 1940 when Sylvia Plath was eight years old. Hearing her father died Sylvia Plath swore, “I’ll never speak to God again.” Her mother, Aurelia, then worked at two jobs to support Sylvia and her brother Warren, but in her diary, Plath reveals her hatred for her mother (Alexander, 1999: 34-36).
1941 was the first publication of Sylvia Plath’s work, it was a collection of poems book simply entitled Poem about what she saw and heard on hot summer nights. The collection was printed in children’s section of the Boston Herald, Sylvia Plath accelerated to make more poems and other literary works ever since. In late summer of 1942 when Sylvia Plath was almost 10, Aurelia started to ask little Sylvia and Warren the idea about moving out of Winthrop. It made Sylvia Plath became frustrated, that later Sylvia Plath when she was twenty years old, explained her friend Eddie that she committed suicide, “she swam out into the ocean alone and tried to drown herself.” However, she was unable to finish her will to commit suicide (Alexander, 1999: 121). There is also evidence that proves Sylvia Plath slit her own throat when she was ten (Alexander, 1999: 135).
city, she felt that she had lost many elements of her old life ever since. Later she had to make new friends, adjust to different school, and learn the way around unfamiliar places. Nevertheless, her most depressive element in life was the pain she still felt over the death of her father (Alexander, 1999: 36-41).
In February 1943, Aurelia had a terrible sickness for which she was hospitalized for three weeks and another week of recovery at home before she could continue her regular routine. Unlike dealing with their father sickness, little Sylvia and Warren were not so depressed about Aurelia’s sickness (Alexander, 1999: 42).
At school, Sylvia Plath appeared to be a model student. She won prizes and scholarship. She studied at Gamaliel Bradford Senior High School (now Wellesley High School) and then took her degree at the Smith College from 1950 to 1955 (Alexander, 1999: 60-174).
In 1952, her first awarded story, “Sunday at the Mintons,” was published in Mademoiselle Magazine while she was at college. In 1953, Sylvia Plath worked on the college editorial board at the same magazine and suffered a mental breakdown, which led to a suicide attempt for the second time. She describe this period of her life in The Bell Jar, her autobiographical novel, which was published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas in 1963, a month before her death (Alexander, 1999: 124).
Hughes at a St. Botolph’s party on February 25, 1956, and they were married on June 16 1956, although many of her friends had reminded her that Ted Hughes was the biggest seducer in Cambridge (Alexander, 1999: 176 -189).
Their happy married life only lasted a while. Later on, Sylvia started to accuse Ted on having many affairs with some girls. After six years of marriage and having two children, in July 1962, Sylvia finally discovered Ted’s newest affair with Assia Wefill, a wife of Canadian poet David Weffil, a couple whom they shared the apartment with. Sylvia and Ted separated in September, and in December, Sylvia and the children moved into an apartment at 23 Fitzroy Road (Alexander, 1999: 282 – 313).
On February 11, after preparing breakfast for the children Sylvia went into the kitchen and sealed the door to commit suicide with gas from the oven. The baby sitter who came in the morning found her body (Alexander, 1999: 330).
D. Theoretical Framework
The reviews and theories above are needed to answer the problem formulation. The reviews will be applied as the references towards the analysis, while the theories will be applied as the basic understanding to analyze the problems. Both the reviews and theories support one another, which the combination of both will be able to answer the problems of this study.
parts of theory of imagery are included) will be applied to analyze how the imagery inferred.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object that is analyzed in this study is “Lady Lazarus,” a narrative poem by Sylvia Plath, an author who was born in Massachusetts on October 27, 1932 and committed suicide on February 11, 1963. “Lady Lazarus” was written within a week from 23 to 28 October, 1962. It is so ironic that “Lady Lazarus” was first published in 1965, two years after Plath’s death of suicide. Although Sylvia Plath’s life was brief in conventional terms, her life was rich in experiences. She received accolades in the form of prizes, awards, and scholarships. She had literary successes, although none as great as those that were endowed on her post-humously. In 1982, she received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her collected poems; “Lady Lazarus” is one of many of her great poems in the collection and had most response from the experts. “Lady Lazarus” is included in her Ariel, her famous collected poems.
The poem that is used in this study was taken from Donald McQuade’s Single Volume American Literature II, the third edition, published by Addison
Wesley Longman, Inc. in 1999. “Lady Lazarus” contains of 28 (twenty-eight) stanzas of 84 (eighty-four) lines.
guts because she has nine lives like the cat. Assuming her life is such a trash she annihilate each decade by committing suicide, this time is number three. The speaker blames everybody who makes her life so bitter, and blames everybody who tries to rescue her. Because she would be able to live again without their rescue, there is no need to keep her life when there is nothing in it anymore. Furthermore, she said that she is going to rise again and do revenge.
B. Approach of the Study
For the approach, the researcher uses the biographical approach because it is the most suitable approach to answer the question stated in the problem formulation. Since the researcher tends to analyze the relation between the author’s life (suicidal manner and suicide attempts of the author) and the poem, the biographical approach provides suitable explanation because this approach stresses on the reflection of the author’s life.
C. Method of the Study
The researcher uses the library research to collect the data for this study. Those data are divided into two categories, they are, primary data and secondary data taken as the sources.
The primary data is the poem by Sylvia Plath “Lady Lazarus” taken from McQuade’s The Harper Single Volume American Literature II, which is the object of the analysis. Besides the poem “Lady Lazarus” the researcher used other sources as the secondary sources. Most were books of psychology to support the theories of psychology, books concerned with literature theories, and Silvia Plath’s life history. The books of psychology are James C. Coleman’s Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life, Jim Smith’s Abnormal Behaviors: Outline
References. Books of literature theories are Abrams’ A Glossary of Literature
Terms, Wellek and Warren’s Theory of Literature, Bressler’s Literary Criticism,
Donald McQuade’s Single Volume American Literature, Wilfred Guerin’s A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Cleanth Brooks’ Modern Poetry,
and Rohrberger and Woods’ Reading and Writing about Literature. The author’s biography is taken from Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath by Paul Alexander. The researcher also takes some data that cannot be found from those books from the internet. They are reviews from Helen Vendler and Kathleen Margaret Lant at <www.english.uiuc.edu>, and Joan Welz at <http://www.hum.ualberta.ca/eml>.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into three main parts, the first part contains the explication of the poem, and then the other two parts contain the analysis of the problem formulations stated in Chapter I. The first analysis will discuss how the imagery of the poem “Lady Lazarus” inferred. The second analysis will describe how the inference of the imagery in “Lady Lazarus” reflects Sylvia Plath’s suicidal manner and suicide attempts.
A. The Explication of “Lady Lazarus”
“Lady Lazarus” is divided into twenty eight stanzas, three lines in each stanza. “Lady Lazarus was made within a week and it was finished on October 28 1962, one day after her thirtieth birthday. The poem sounds like demonic possession (Alexander, 1999: 303), which is filled with anger and hatred.
The explication will be discussed per-stanza, but sometimes to get a better understanding, some stanzas will be grouped based on the continuity.
I have done it again One year in every ten I manage it ----
In the first stanza, the speaker begins with a sentence that invites the reader to question himself, “I have done it again.” This sentence makes the reader to formulate a question like this, “what has she done before?” What the speaker has done again will be explained in the analysis on stanza fifteen as suicide, and when the speaker says “One year in every ten” the reader once again is invited to question himself, “How old is she?” which later in stanza seven will be answered. However, before those questions are answered the speaker adds “I manage it,” this means the speaker is intended to do the thing she does, which is later in the explication of stanza fifteen will be explained as suicide.
A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine Jew linen
Peel off the napkin O my enemy Do I terrify? ----
The stanza four is directed to her enemy, or most possible to challenge. The speaker asks the enemy to “Peel off the napkin,” so that the enemy can examine her better. In the next line the speaker adds “Do I terrify?” this indicates that the speaker wishes to know the reaction of the enemy after seeing her without the napkin. The speaker wants to know whether she terrifies the enemy or not. The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
The sour breath Will vanish in a day.
“The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth, and the sour breath” signify the speaker’s body. The next line, “Will vanish in a day” explains what will happen to the speaker’s body. The function of this sentence is to attract the audience to guess what will happen to the speaker’s body, because in reality, the way a body will vanish in a day is through burning, sprinkled with acid, exploded with a bomb, or perhaps consumed by a wild carnivore.
Soon, soon the flesh The grave cave ate will be At home on me
And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.
where the biblical Lazarus was buried (John 11: 38). There is one thing that has always been related to the biblical Lazarus, which is resurrection. In this stanza the speaker seems to regard herself as a holy person that she deserves a resurrection upon her death.
“And I a smiling woman” describes her unregretful of the suicide she has committed. “And like the cat I have nine times to die,” this line seems to agree with the myth that says that a cat has nine lives. In this stanza, the speaker assumes that she also has nine lives, in which to say that she has no worry in dying or even die. This line also indicates that the speaker believes the myth. The second line, “I am only thirty,” answers the question in the analysis of the first stanza, “How old is she?”
This is Number Three. What a trash
To annihilate each decade.
“This is Number Three” is a statement that shows disappointment, the word “This” refers to the word “it” in the first line of the first stanza “I have done it again.” “This” and “it” have the same meaning, as explained in stanza fifteen, it is a suicide. It means she is disappointed because she lost her three lives out of nine. In this stanza, the word “trash” refers to the speaker’s life, three decades of life. It is proven by the next line, “To annihilate each decade.” The speaker declares that she had committed three suicides as she is now thirty years old, because she wants to erase or destroy completly each decade.
In this stanza, the word “million filaments” refers to something related with electricity, it could be an electric shock therapy, or electrocution. The word “crowd” according to Hornby means large number of people gathered together (1995: 280). It means the word “crowd” in the poem most possible means the people around her. “Peanut crunching” depicts the condition of the crowd, which is a noisy crowd. “Shoves into see,” means that the people are scrambling around to watch her dying. In this stanza, the speaker seems to talk about another audience or group of people, not the ones she is talking to now.
Them unwrap me hand and foot ---- The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies
“Them unwrap me hand and foot,” and the next line, “the big strip tease,” are to depict humiliation, and the ones who humiliate her are “gentlemen, ladies.” It means the speaker feels humiliated, because gentlemen and ladies treat her as if an object. They do something to her without her permission and neglect her human rights.
These are my hands My knees.
I may be skin and bone,
“These are my hands. My knees” shows that the speaker communicates to the audience by showing her hands. The word “skin and bone” in this stanza depicts the speaker’s body condition, which is skinny or thin, caused by burdens that she has.
Nevertheless I am the same, identical woman. The first time it happened I was ten
The word “identical” is used to show that the speaker has not changed a bit. Then in the next line, the speaker explains what she has not changed from, that is from what happened when she was ten, she still has the same wish and desire. The last line, “It was an accident,” explains what happened when she was ten, but she does not mention what it was. However, the “accident” refers to the second line of the first stanza that says “One year in every ten.” The speaker keeps the audience questioning about the thing she does right now, but in the next stanza the speaker starts to explain what it is.
The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all. I rocked shut
In this stanza, the speaker finally gives a clue about what she does in every ten years, which is a suicide. Because “to last it out” means to give it a stop, or to end it, and the word “it” here means the speaker’s life. This stanza explains the second suicide, so it means the word “first” in the previous stanza means suicide too. The word “come back” is used to show that the speaker had been brought back to life or reborn once, although she meant to last it out. The word, “rocked shut,” signifies the failure of the suicide.
As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
forms inside the shells of a certain oysters and is of great value as a jewel (Hornby, 1995: 853). The speaker tries to show that people regard her as a valuable woman that they value the most disgusting of her, the worms. The speaker tries to say that the people were trying to save her, while she wished to die back then.
Dying
is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well.
“Dying is an art,” shows that the speaker thinks that dying is just like art, and then she adds, “like everything else.” According to Hornby, art means the expression of human creative talent (1995: 56). This means according to speaker, dying can become an expression that she does it as well as she can. In this stanza, the speaker seems to have a subjective thought towards dying. This is where the word “it” in the first line of the first stanza, “I have done it again” is given meaning. The “it” is “suicide,” it refers to the third line of the first stanza, “I manage it,” so it is an on-purpose-dying. This also answers the question of the first stanza, “What has she done before?” and this stanza also gives meaning to the words “first” and the “second” in stanza twelve and thirteen.
I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.
second line, “I do it so it feels real” refers to an event where someone thinks that he is dreaming, and then he pinches his arm to feel a small pain to make sure that he is not dreaming. It triggers this question “Why do you have to commit suicide just to know that you are not dreaming?” the reader does not have to wait long to get the answer, the next line, “I guess you could say I’ve a call,” answers the question.
It’s easy enough to do it in a cell. It’s easy enough to do it and stay put. It’s the theatrical
The word “cell” of the first line in this stanza, “It’s easy enough to do it in a cell,” depicts the miserable condition of the speaker. Cell is a very small room for one or more prisoners in a prison (Hornby, 1995: 178). This gives an image of the speaker’s condition, she feels imprisoned, or under a great depression. The word “theatrical” in “It’s the theatrical” means not natural or done in order to create an effect (Hornby, 1995: 1237). This stanza tries to say that the interesting part of the speaker’s suicide is the reason of doing it that makes her does not turn back or “stay put,” which is why it is designed to be succeeded to create an effect. Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute Amused shout:
‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out. There is a charge
stanza, in the second line, “Comeback in a broad day/To the same place, the same face, the same brute,” then it is clear that the speaker does not want to go back. She will charge the people or ask responsibility for that. These two stanzas try to say that although the speaker’s reborn can be called a miracle, for her it is a curse, or bad luck, that is why she does not want to be saved.
For the eyeing my scars, there is a charge For the hearing of my heart ----
It really goes
And there is a charge, a very large charge For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
attention. The use of “Herr” before their names shows how the speaker judges them as Nazis.
I am your opus, I am your valuable, The pure gold baby That melts to a shriek. I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
In stanza twenty-four, the speaker begins to turn from proud of who she is, into angry for not being appreciated by Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy. It can be seen in the last line of this stanza, “Do not think I underestimate your great concern,” that reflects blameworthiness of Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy.
Ash, ash ---- You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there ----
Stanza twenty-five is also directed to Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy. “Ash” is the remains of burning or cremating (Hornby, 1995: 59). The word “ash” gives the image of death. In the second line, the word “you” refers to “Herr Doktor” and “Herr Enemy,” who poke and stir her like an object. “Flesh” and “bone” signify the speaker’s body, or physical appearance. The speaker thinks that there is nothing in her physical appearance. In this stanza, the speaker seems to put the blames on “Herr Doktor” and “Herr Enemy.”
A cake of soap, A wedding ring, A gold filling.
of the previous stanza “Flesh, bone, there is nothing there,” which means to say that no physical forms are valuable.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware
Beware.
Once again the speaker judges others as Nazis, this time she judges “God” and “Lucifer” as Nazis by putting “Herr” before their names. Then she uses a repetition of the word “Beware.” This repetition is used to threat “Herr God” and “Herr Lucifer.” The speaker seems to have a hateful grudge against “Herr God” and “Herr Lucifer.”
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air.
The first line, “Out of the ash,” refers to the phoenix myth of resurrection (www.english.uiuc.edu). According to the myth, a phoenix bird will burn its body when it gets old, like a self-combustion, and then from the ash, a baby phoenix will be born. The first line can be identified as the moment of resurrection. Then she will rise with her red hair and eat men like air. This stanza shows that she has a hateful grudge against men that she will eat them as soon as she has the power to do it.
B. The Analysis on the Imagery of “Lady Lazarus”
on how she includes some historical, biblical, mythical, and personal references or allusion to enrich the imagery in the poem.
The function of the images in this poem is as a way to help the interpretation in comparisons of various sorts. The accuracy of the images can be gathered by looking closer at the context (Brooks, 1960: 269 – 273). In that case, the researcher tries to analyze the poem from the very beginning to the end. The full meaning of this poem relies in the implications of the imagery, in which some of the metaphors have been reduced to one term to make it implicit (Brooks, 1960: 269 – 273).
The inference of the imagery will be discussed per-stanza, but sometimes the discussion of the stanzas will be grouped based on the continuity to get a better understanding.
I have done it again One year in every ten I manage it ----
From the very first stanza, the speaker has given a picture to the reader about what she does over and over again. She says that she has done something again at the time of speaking. The time setting can be seen from the present tense she uses. The last stanza, “I manage it ----,“ is an image that signifies a visual scene. This image depicts a planned-act that takes place one year in every decade (ten years).
A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot
A paperweight,
Jew linen
In stanza two, she describes her skin as a “walking miracle,” an image that is made out of metaphor. According to Hornby, miracle is an act or event that does not follow the known laws of nature (1995: 743), as if to suggest that her skin is the result of a miraculous act. Then she compares her skin to a Nazi lampshade in the next line. The Nazi lampshade is an image that signifies quality of sense perception using allusion, historical allusion. The term Nazi lampshade comes from the Second World War period. The Nazis, in concentration camps, made lampshades of human skins, skins of Jewish (McQuade, 1999:2529).
The Nazi lampshade shows the cruelty of Nazi upon the Jewish during the Second World War. It gives the image of oppression that she regards her skin as the result of cruelty done by Nazi. Then, “my right foot/a paperweight” is an image that signifies the description of visual object. It gives an image of suffering. As if to declare that her suffering has made her so skinny that her right foot is very thin and light. Later, she describes her face as featureless fine Jew linen. The description of her face is an image that is made out of allusion, biblical allusion (Jew linen). This image depicts her assumption about being a result of a miraculous act too.
figures that she regards them as Nazi. It can be seen from how she assumes herself as Jewish under the oppression of Nazi. In terms of good and evil, she thinks that those figures of Nazi represent the evil, and she, as a Jewish, represents the good or the victim.
Peel off the napkin O my enemy Do I terrify? ----
In stanza four, the speaker, as she uses biblical allusion, relates herself with the biblical Lazarus. The napkin, according to the Holy Bible, covered the face of the biblical Lazarus when Jesus resurrected him (John, 11: 44). This means, the speaker compares her face to the face of biblical Lazarus in term of quality, not visual. The speaker seems to try to build an assumption that she has the quality of the biblical Lazarus whether in term of resurrection and in term of Jewish (biblical Lazarus is a Jewish). The last line, “Do I terrify?” draws a conclusion to the whole description of the speaker’s body. By asking the question, “Do I terrify?” to her enemy, the speaker seems to try to make a picture about the condition of her body. Implicitly, the speaker tries to describe that her body looks terrifying because of the oppression of the figures of Nazi (related to the analysis of the previous stanzas). This stanza is directed to the enemy, which is of course one of the figures that she calls Nazi.
The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? The sour breath
With stanza five and six the speaker gives an image that depicts what will happen to her body in any time soon. “The sour breath” is an olfactory (smell) image that depicts the speaker’s condition, which is about to die. In daily life the word “sour breath” indicates a condition when a person finds it hard to breathe, in term of dying, and he manages to breathe through his mouth to gain a better inhale and exhale. The exhale will taste sour because it carries the smell of the dry mouth.
Healthy person can experience the same thing too, that is when the person talks too much. For examples, when a person finds that he needs to drink after delivering a speech or a lecture. “Will vanish in a day” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts a tragic death. The stanza six, “Soon, soon the flesh/The grave cave ate will be/At home on me,” explains that what she wishes is going to be fulfilled soon, which is a resurrection after death as the representation of innocence. It can be seen from the use of the allusion to make the image, which is the grave cave, it is where the biblical Lazarus was buried and resurrected (John 11: 38).
And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.
shape base on the age. “And like the cat I have nine times to die” is an image that is made of allusion, mythical allusion. According to the myth, a cat has nine lives. It depicts how the speaker has no worries in dying.
This is Number Three. What a trash
To annihilate each decade.
“What a trash,” if related to the previous line, “this is Number Three,” is the metaphor of the previous line, as if to say that the Number Three is a trash (in form of identity). However, it can also be an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts her disappointment of her third decade of life. Because, the analysis of the first stanza mentions that the speaker commits suicide every decade, it means the third suicide (“this” of “this is Number Three” means suicide) represent her third decade of life. The use of capital letters upon “Number Three” is as a sign to be noticed, or as element to draw attention. The word annihilate in “To annihilate each decade” means to destroy something completely (Hornby, 1995: 40). It means the function of the suicide is to destroy each decade completely.
What a million filaments. The peanut crunching crowd Shoves into see
electrocution. Like in the second line of previous stanza, the word “what a” is used to described the speaker’s disappointment, which is of the shock therapy, or the electrocution.
“The peanut crunching crowd” is an auditory (sound) image that depicts the crowd, how they make noisy or disturbing sound. “Crowd” means large number of people gathered together (Hornby, 1995: 280). “Crunch” means crush something (peanut, a crunchy food) noisily with the teeth when eating (Hornby, 1995: 282). “Shoves into see” is a kinesthetic (sensation of movement) image that depicts the crowd, how they push to watch the speaker. Through these images the speaker tries to say that the noisy crowd, in which she considers as a unity (shoves – singular), comes to watch her. This stanza may mean that the electric shock therapy or electrocution is meaningless, that it only invites disturbing people to watch.
Them unwrap me hand and foot ---- The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies
These are my hands My knees.
I may be skin and bone,
The image in the last line, “I may be skin and bone,” signify a description of vivid visual objects, which is the body of the speaker, because “hands” and “knees” represent the body of the speaker. The image depicts the condition of the speaker’s body, which is skinny or thin.
Nevertheless I am the same, identical woman. The first time it happened I was ten
It was an accident.
The image in the first line, “identical woman” signifies the quality of sense perception that refers to the speaker self in form of identity using metaphor (I am). This identity represents her perceptions, feelings, wishes, and thoughts instead of visual description of her physical appearance. This metaphor will be proven in the analysis of the second problem formulation. The second line, “The first time it happened I was ten” gives a setting of the first suicide, represents the first decade of her life. The last line simply explains her assumption towards the first suicide. She assumes her first suicide as an accident.
The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all. I rocked shut
what happens to the speaker’s second suicide. The researcher tries to find the exact meaning of “rocked shut.” The word “rocked” means move backwards and forwards or from side to side (exp. our boat was rocked by the waves), or shake violently (Hornby, 1995: 1017), while the word “shut” means stop or close (Hornby, 1995: 1096). Based on the on the diction, “I rocked shut” may mean “ I shook stop.”
As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
“As a seashell” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the location of the suicide. “They had to call and call and pick the worms off me” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts what the people (they) did to save her, or to stop the speaker’s second suicide to take effect. It is a combination of auditory (sound), “they had to call and call” and kinesthetic (sensation of movement), “and pick the worms off me.” The comparison between the worms and the sticky pearls also builds a description of visual scene that has an implicit meaning. The “worms” is a description of visual object that depicts a valueless material, while the “sticky pearls” is also a description of visual object that depicts the opposite, valuable material. The implication of the comparison is that the speaker does not value her own life while the people value her life as precious.
Dying
“Dying is an art” is an image that signifies the quality of sense perception in form of identity using its metaphor (is) that gives dying an identity, which is an expression of human creative talent. Then, “like everything else” is an image that signifies the quality of sense perception in form of comparison using its simile (like) that depicts the attributes or details of the art of dying. “I do it exceptionally well” gives an image of visual scene that depicts the speaker’s seriousness towards suicide.
I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.
It’s easy enough to do it in a cell. It’s easy enough to do it and stay put. It’s the theatrical
The word “cell” of the first line is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts condition of the speaker. “Cell” means a very small room for one or more prisoners in a prison (Hornby, 1995: 178). This time the speaker compares her condition or her life to a cell. She implicitly says that it is easy to commit suicide when she feels imprisoned. The next line shows her reaction towards the suicide, as she states that she is not going to turn back. The second line “It’s easy enough to do it and stay put” is also an image that signifies the description of visual scene. The phrase “stay put” is related to the previous image “cell.” It invites the reader to imagine that the speaker is in a nowhere-to-run position, as to say that she has no option. The word “theatrical” in “It’s the theatrical” means unnatural or designed for effect (Hornby, 1995: 1237), which is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that concludes the previous images. The speaker implicitly says that the suicide is unnatural, because she wishes it to make effect.
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute Amused shout:
mentioned in the previous stanza. It also gives an implicit statement that depicts the speaker’s wish for a different condition, or the opposite, or in another word, she wants to leave it all behind.
‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out. There is a charge
“A miracle” is related to the last line of the previous stanza, “Amused shout” in which to state that “a miracle” is the “amused shout.” “A miracle” is a combination of auditory (sound) and kinesthetic (sensation of movement) image. It invites the reader to imagine the reaction of the people, how they are shouting (auditory) and making surprised movements (kinesthetic), when they see the speaker’s resurrection. Then the second line, “that knocks me out,” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the speaker’s reaction towards the people’s reaction. Knock someone out as figurative language means overwhelm with surprised, have a strong emotional effect, or put someone into unconsciousness (Hornby, 1995: 655). The last line, “There is a charge,” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the speaker’s anger. It is as serial reaction of the speaker, but this time in form of statement or threat, because “there is a charge” can be interpreted as “you’ll pay for this.” It is directed to the people or the “crowd” that had been mentioned in stanza nine. For the eyeing my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart ---- It really goes
And there is a charge, a very large charge For a word or a touch
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
Stanzas twenty to twenty-two are the description of the acts that are done by the crowd worth the speaker’s threat (refers to the analysis on stanza nineteen). However, those acts lead the readers to imagine some images as follows. “For the eyeing my scars” is an image that signifies the description of visual object, which is the scars of the speaker. “For the hearing of my heart” is an auditory (sound) image. The most important imagery in stanza twenty is the image in the last line, “it really goes.” This is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the real existence of the threat. The word “word” in “For a word or a touch” can mean comment or conversation, it is an auditory (sound) image, while “touch” is a kinesthetic (sensations of movement) image. “A bit of blood” is an image that signifies the description of visual object, which is the blood of the speaker. “A piece of my hair” is an image of visual object, which is the speaker single hair, while “my clothes” is also an image of visual object, which is the speaker clothes.
oppression and suffering are done by Nazi, means the implication of this stanza is to denote the doers of her oppression and suffering.
I am your opus, I am your valuable, The pure gold baby
“Opus” means each musical composition of a composer, or it can be a work of art (Hornby, 1995: 814). “Opus” is an image that signifies the quality of sense perception to give the picture about the speaker in form of identity, as it uses metaphor (I am). The next images, “valuable” and “pure gold baby” are similar to the previous one, “opus.”
That melts to a shriek. I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
The first line of stanza twenty-four, “That melts to a shriek” cancels everything the speaker says in previous stanza. “Melts” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts a transformation, because “melt” means a changing form into liquid through heating (Hornby, 1995: 730). “Shriek” means to give a sudden shout in a loud high voice (Hornby, 1995: 1094), which is an auditory (sound) image that depicts misery. The researcher thinks that the word shriek is chosen, instead of scream or shout, because shriek is usually used as an expression of unspeakable pain or fear of torture, like in horror or thriller novel. “I turn and burn” is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the ending part of the transformation process, which is destruction, because “burn” means to destroy something by fire (Hornby, 1995: 150).
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there ----
“Ash” is an image that signifies a description of visual object that depicts the result of the transformation process in the previous stanza (I turn and burn). It can also depict a death by fire, because “Ash” is the remains of burning or cremating (Hornby, 1995: 59). The words “poke” and “stir” are kinesthetic (sensation of movement) images, and “you” is directed to Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy. The speaker uses “poke” and “stir” instead of “suggest” and “direct,” which means the implicit meaning of this line is that the speaker thinks that Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy treat her like a piece of material or dead object. “Flesh” and “bone” are images that signify the description of visual objects that depict physical form of the speaker. “There is nothing there” explains the meaninglessness of “flesh” and “bone.”
A cake of soap, A wedding ring, A gold filling.
ceremony as a symbol of unity of a husband and a wife. The couple in marriage will wear the ring for the rest of their life until death does them apart. It is also an image that signifies the description of visual object that depicts a physical symbol of marriage. These three dead objects or physical form are considered worthless by the speaker (related to the previous stanza “there is nothing there”).
The researcher tries to analyze the implication of these images. The gold filling and cake of soap depict the result of cruelty of Nazi that reminds the reader about the cruelties of Nazi that are mentioned in the beginning stanzas, so that the reader relates those cruelties to Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy in stanza twenty-two as the doers of those cruelties, because this stanza is directed to Herr Doktor and Herr Enemy. The “wedding ring” is considered equal to “gold filling” and “cake of soap,” it position the “wedding ring” as the result of cruelty of Nazi.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware
Beware.
“Beware,” means be cautious (Hornby, 1995: 103), is a warning that is directed to Herr God and Herr Lucifer. “Herr God” and “Herr Lucifer” are images that signify the description of visual objects using biblical allusion that depict Nazi male figures (Herr). The use of Herr before God and Lucifer is to position them as Nazi. This stanza means to warn or threat God and Lucifer whom the speaker considers as Nazi.
Out of the ash
The first line, “Out of the ash,” refers to the phoenix myth of resurrection (www.english.uiuc.edu). According to the myth, a phoenix bird will burn its body when it gets old, a kind of self-combustion, and then from the ash, a baby phoenix will be born. It is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the speaker’s resurrection. However, it can also depict a suicide or tragic death by fire (ash, the result of cremation). The second line also talks about resurrection, only this time the speaker adds a detail on the image, which is the “red hair,” which is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts the speaker’s transformation, which is into a demonic figure. The word “eat” in the last line of this stanza is an image that signifies the description of visual scene that depicts a process of revenge. The revenge is directed to the figures in which she calls upon them as “Herr,” because “Herr” is like “sir” in English, it refers to male figures (men).
C. Sylvia Plath’s Suicidal Manner and Suicide Attempts Reflected in the Imagery of “Lady Lazarus”
will analyze the psychology of the author to study how far the poem reflect the personality and consciousness of the author (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 8).
The researcher will analyze the relation between the author’s suicidal manner and the poem using the theory of suicide to prove that the imagery reflects the author’s suicidal manner. The researcher will also analyze the relation between the author’s suicide attempts in the biography and the poem using the biography of the author to prove that the imagery reflects the author’s suicide attempts. As affording materials for a systematic study of the psychology of the poet and of the poetic process (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 75) the researcher must relate the work and the author’s biography. The researcher also uses the biography as material for science or future science, the psychology of artistic of creation (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 75). The poem must be analyzed from the first stanza to the last one in order to find the exact connections and similarities. The stanzas will be analyzed one by one, but to get a better understanding they will be grouped based on the continuity occasionally.
I have done it again One year in every ten I manage it ----
on February 11, 1963 (Alexander, 1999: 330), a hundred and six days after she finished “Lady Lazarus.” Plath’s final suicide proves that she had planed to commit suicide the third time when she wrote “Lady Lazarus.” Plath’s final suicide and the speaker’s newest suicide are related to one another. The analysis on stanza twenty eight will explain the relation between Plath’s final suicide and the speaker’s newest suicide. Sylvia Plath had committed three suicides during her lifetime, including the final suicide. In fact, those suicides happened one in every ten years. The details of the suicides will be explained in the analysis on stanza twelve, thirteen, and twenty-eight.
A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine Jew linen
second sexual intercourse with Phillip McCurdy, Sylvia started to explore her sex activities with many other guys. She even dated two guys at the same time, and had sexual intercourse with every one of them. Later she even begged Eddie to scold her and told him that she was a whore and a slut (Alexander, 1999: 135-191).
The next line, “bright as Nazi lampshade,” shows that the author is the victim of the ones that she considers as Nazi (Herr). This line will be analyzed later in the analysis of stanza twenty two. The same thing happens to “my skin is featureless fine Jew linen,” only this time the author position herself as a Jewish (most hated race of Nazi or the victim of Nazi era). “My right foot – is – A paperweight” will be explained in the analysis of stanza eleven, because it is related to “I may be skin and bone” in stanza eleven.
In this poem, Sylvia Plath uses the term Nazi to represent the evil or the oppressor. The reason Sylvia Plath uses Nazi as the representation of evil is because although she has a so-called superior Aryan (the race of Nazis) blood runs in veins, she felt that she stood on the side of the oppressed ones, the Jewish. Her grandparents from her father side were German immigrants who came to America to seek a better fortune. However, as well as many Jewish, they did not belong in Germany, because at that time Germany reformed land ownership and industrialized its economy. Many low-class German were indirectly driven out of Germany and set out their journey to America (Alexander, 1999: 15-19).
Sylvia Plath did not have many enemies in her life. In fact, she made a lot of friends in many big cities in the world like London, Paris, Madrid, and Boston. But, one morning on February the 8th 1963, for two hours she shared her friend Jillian that her ideal marriage had now ended, and she cursed Ted, Assia, and the entire Hughes family. However, it was Ted Hughes alone she had to blame for every bad thing in her third-decade of life. Not only that, after knowing that Ted Hughes would agree to divorce, to her mother Sylvia Plath claimed that she had never been happy in years. Now she could get on with her life. She wished that he would marry Assia to have the “honor” of being Assia’s forth husband. She also whished that Ted, whom she regarded as a bastard and a criminal, had admitted to her years ago, that he had wanted to leave her. That way she should be able to date someone who would appreciate her for who she was (Alexander, 1999:298).
ready to deal with (Smith, 1984: 129 – 130). What made her believe that she should be happy about the divorce was her conscious. However, her unconscious stimulated her vindictive thoughts of Ted Hughes and created a wish for revenge (interpersonal crises). Implicitly, Sylvia Plath wanted Ted Hughes to look closer to her suffering (Peel off the napkin). Sylvia Plath tried to compare herself to the biblical Lazarus in term of resurrection and Jewish (as the victim of Nazi) using the term “napkin.” The term “napkin” has another function in this stanza, which is to tell Ted Hughes when to look closer to her suffering, which is obviously after she died, because the “napkin” according to the Holy Bible covered the face of Lazarus when he died, and because the researcher believes that Sylvia Plath expected and believed that Ted Hughes would look closer to her suffering after she died. This issue will be explained in the analysis on stanza twenty-eight, as it has a relation with the effect she mentioned in stanza seventeen.
The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? The sour breath
Will vanish in a day. Soon, soon the flesh The grave cave ate will be At home on me
