Daddy By Sylvia Plath Essay
Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Daddy’ expresses the struggle for female identity by basing it around the Holocaust, one of the most gruesome, immoral events in the whole of history. Plath uses this event as a metaphor for her struggles in life, and the struggles of women in general for independence. The male figure used in this poem is in the shape of Hitler, a man of unfathomable evil.
In this poem, ‘Daddy’ is seen as a Hitler figure during the metaphor of the Holocaust. He is seen as oppressing the female population, and Plath as a figure in her poem, in comparison to the way Hitler oppressed the Jews. “Marble-heavy” is used to describe this figure, weighing down upon the females, making them struggle for female identity and independence. The adjective …show more content…
Linking to this would be the line, “Chuffing me off like a Jew.” implying even further that she felt oppressed by her Hitler-like father, in the way the Jews did during the Holocaust in the 1940s. “I think I may well be a Jew.” This backs up the metaphor of the Holocaust, as Plath is expressing her feelings of being part of a minority group, due to her being a woman. She feels like she must fight for her right to be independent, because of her oppressed past and the way she was treated by her father. Her fear of this ‘Daddy’ figure is expressed throughout the poem, in stanza nine she tells of this fear explicitly. “I have always been scared of you” in which the reader can see that she was worried about fighting for her rights as a woman purely because of her being “scared”. The lexical choice of “scared” makes the reader question her life and the treatment of her by this male figure, possibly in her past, before he died. Stanza six, line two, “Ich, ich, ich, ich” uses the German word for ‘I’. The repetition of this word possibly highlights her struggles to talk to the ‘Daddy’ figure and express how she feels. It could also be said to be representing a chocking motion, hindering her speech, showing relative frightened emotions of talking to this
In this poem, ‘Daddy’ is seen as a Hitler figure during the metaphor of the Holocaust. He is seen as oppressing the female population, and Plath as a figure in her poem, in comparison to the way Hitler oppressed the Jews. “Marble-heavy” is used to describe this figure, weighing down upon the females, making them struggle for female identity and independence. The adjective …show more content…
Linking to this would be the line, “Chuffing me off like a Jew.” implying even further that she felt oppressed by her Hitler-like father, in the way the Jews did during the Holocaust in the 1940s. “I think I may well be a Jew.” This backs up the metaphor of the Holocaust, as Plath is expressing her feelings of being part of a minority group, due to her being a woman. She feels like she must fight for her right to be independent, because of her oppressed past and the way she was treated by her father. Her fear of this ‘Daddy’ figure is expressed throughout the poem, in stanza nine she tells of this fear explicitly. “I have always been scared of you” in which the reader can see that she was worried about fighting for her rights as a woman purely because of her being “scared”. The lexical choice of “scared” makes the reader question her life and the treatment of her by this male figure, possibly in her past, before he died. Stanza six, line two, “Ich, ich, ich, ich” uses the German word for ‘I’. The repetition of this word possibly highlights her struggles to talk to the ‘Daddy’ figure and express how she feels. It could also be said to be representing a chocking motion, hindering her speech, showing relative frightened emotions of talking to this