What does mirror by sylvia plath mean

Some critics have speculated that the woman is vexed by more than her changing physical appearance. They posit that the woman is observing her mind, her soul, and her psyche, stripped of any guile or obfuscation. By seeing her true self, she becomes aware of the distinction between her exterior and interior lives. In other words, she might be meditating on the distinction between a "false" outer self of appearance, and a "true" inner self. After Plath's suicide, many critics examined the writer's different facets, contrasting her put-together, polite, and decorous outer self with her raging, explosively-creative inner self.

Perhaps Plath is exploring this dichotomy in " Mirror. The critic Jo Gill writes of "Mirror" that even as the mirror straightforwardly describes itself as "silver and exact," it feels compelled to immediately qualify itself.

Gill writes, "as the poem unfolds we see that this hermetic antonym may be a deceptive facade masking the need for communion and dialogue. It does not merely reflect what it sees, but also shapes those images for our understanding.

Gill notes that the poem is catoptric, meaning that it describes while it represents its own structure; this is down through the use of two nine-line stanzas which are both symmetrical, and indicative of opposition. The second stanza is significant because it, as Gill explains, "exposes Thus, the mirror is "no longer a boundary but a limninal and penetrable space. Overall, "Mirror" is a melancholy and even bitter poem that exemplifies the tensions between inner and outer selves, as well as indicates the preternaturally feminine "problem" of aging and losing one's beauty.

The Question and Answer section for Sylvia Plath: Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Citation please? Line 13, she mentions « the candles » or « the moon », labeled as « liars ». Sometimes it is easier to lie to oneself and yield to the temptation of flattering illusions. Their sweet, gentle and soft light may also represent the subjectivivity and also empathy of a judgement. It unfolds its fear of the passing of time and aging.

This repeated painful routine is depicted on line 16 by the back and forth movement before the mirror as « she comes and goes « , on line 16 with various time adverbials « over and over » on l. Line 16 also plays with an internal rhyme between, « face », « replaces » and « darkness » , which calls to mind the sound of a slippery and insidious animal like the fish at the end. The two last run-on lines reveal clearly her fear of aging symbolized by the final climax with the apparition of « terrible fish » line The loss of her beauty and of her youth means death, not only the physical death but also her social death.

Some critics interpreted these lines as a protest against social pressure and especially, the strict masculine vision of the woman idealizing her physical beauty and her youth, which objectifies her in the process. Women lost their value when they are no longer young and attractive. To conclude … Behind its seeming quiet tone, this poem conceals a real violence that gradually heightens to reach its terrifying final apex.

It also stresses the conflict between reality and perceptions, objectivity and subjectivity, emotion and rationality. The choice of the mirror, a typical feminine object, reinforced by the mirrored structure of the poem, enhance particularly the issues and the dichotomy she lays bare. In the first stanza the speaker is a mirror, and in the second the speaker says, « Now I am a lake. Again in the first stanza the mirror states, « I am not cruel, only truthful, » and in the second stanza, line 12, refers to the candles and the moon as « liars.

When the woman faces the mirror she faces truth, when she turns to the candles or the moon she faces « those liars. Her research interest focuses on the critical discourse and the history of literary ideas in the 18th century that led to the decanonizing of women writers, as well as the construction of authorial persona in the literary and intellectual field.

In terms of contemporary works, in complete subjectivity, she cultivates a penchant for the French literature "intimiste", existential and introspective that takes a sharp look at its age's issues and mores. Allergic to elitism as well as to all "declinologues" discourses -ageless-, she does not cringe from venturing, on occasion, into pop culture successes for what they also say about our society :- Only one motto: open-mind and the least preconceived ideas as possible!

Plus d'infos Toggle search form Search for:. Livres cultes. They appear in homes, bathrooms, dressing rooms, and are sometimes even used as decorations.

As perfecting appearance has become important, so has looking at yourself in the mirror. In order to critique and fix the things that are not perfect, we use mirrors to judge and evaluate ourselves over time.

It is integral to mental health to take into account personality and values, and feeling negative solely based on appearance is not accurately conclusive or healthy. Plath explores the idea of dependency on mirrors to see, along with the deeper meaning behind becoming transfixed with seeing yourself, who you are and who you are becoming by gazing at your reflection. Told from first person narrative while using personification, Plath makes a mirror come alive as the speaker in the first stanza.

The mirror bluntly tells the reader some characteristics, and then dives into the deeper idea of what a mirror exactly does. A mirror does not care who you are, but shows you as you are. Without prior thoughts, mirrors simply reflect the thing before them. A mirror reflects exactly what is standing before it, as it is. Representing reality, a mirror can see accurate and precise physical features, while the individual being reflected may see an illusion.

He or she may look at themselves and see something in their reflection that is not really there, only imagined to be. While confined to a cornered, limited space, mirrors provide detail and accuracy to whatever is looking at them, whether it is a living being or an inanimate object. The mirror has a connection that has been developing over the period of time it has spent doing its job of reflecting the pink.