Shaunyell Bobbitt
Essay 2
English 120
Laura Darrow
13 September 2011
Lady Lazarus: Imagery Analysis
The ideas and realities relating to death and specifically suicide are things that are not easily or readily discussed by most people. They are issues discussed in dark rooms with hushed voices. They are the topics of our fears and sometimes our deepest desires. One author that breaches this taboo of sorts is Sylvia Plath. In her poem Lady Lazarus, she paints a clear picture of suicide with the use of imagery she utilizes.
The first few references she uses in defining that suicide has taken place come in her second and third stanzas. This is where she writes the following;
“My skin/Bright as a Nazi lampshade/my right foot/a paper weight/my face a featureless fine/Jew linin”, (Plath lines: 4-9)
In her reference to her skin, she likens it to a” Nazi lampshade”, (Plath lines: 4-5). This represents the blood that has been shed do to some kind of self-inflicted wound. Of course the blood from a wound like this would be red, and very vivid in hue, much like the red that the Nazi’s used in their flags and arm bands. Plath goes on to say that her “right foot is like a paperweight”, (Plath lines: 6-7). This is representative of how she would have become weak from blood loss, and would have trouble moving her extremities. The last piece of imagery Plath uses in her third stanza comes when she writes, “My face a featureless fine Jew linin”, (Plath lines: 8-9). This is painting a clear picture of the subjects pale skin, which is completely normal when there has been heavy blood loss. Plath goes on to give further clear imageries of her attempts to end her life.
In stanzas seven and eight Plath goes on to describe some of the pain that she felt in regards to her suicide attempts,
“And like the cat I have nine times to die/this is number three/what a trash/to annihilate each decade”. (Plath lines 21-24)
In these lines it is easy to see and feel how sad and angry she is about her attempts. She likens her life span to that of a cat. A life that does not allow one to die the first time, but rather forces her to continue on with a painful existence only to be forced to repeat her sorrows and ill deeds once again. Plath even goes as far as to say that her suicide is a trash. A useless action that does not end her human suffering, but prolongs it, this is evident in how she goes on to write that her suicide attempts thoroughly ruin every decade of her existence.
Finally, in stanzas thirteen and fourteen, Plath explains how her second attempt at suicide was almost successful, but had been stopped, even though she had indeed wanted death,
“The second time I meant/to last it out and to not come back at all/I rocked shut/as a seashell/they had to call and call/and pick the worms off me like sticky pearls”, (Plath lines 37-42).
Here in line thirty-seven she clearly states that in her second attempt to kill herself she wanted to be successful. She also goes on to clarify this in line thirty-eight by saying that she wanted it to last, meaning she had no intentions what so ever to go on living. The imagery used in lines thirty-nine through forty-two further paint the picture of her unsuccessful attempt. Saying that she rocked shut like a seashell implies that she was clinically dead. This is my favorite imagery that she uses, what better way to say that she was dead than to have the reader imagine a seashell closing, totally enveloping the once living person in complete darkness. She even details the failed attempt further in saying that they had to keep calling her and then had to pick off the worms like sticky pearls. The metaphor of the continuous calling sounds very much like the attempts a doctor would make via CPR to revive a dying or even dead patient. The worms I believe are a reference to how she needed close medical care after this second attempt, which helps to give a sense to the seriousness of her actions. After all, if she had been that close to death, then she would most likely have had to spend some time in the intensive care unit of a hospital.
With the dark and somewhat alarming imagery that Sylvia Plath uses, she paints a clear and vivid picture of her personal struggles with suicide. From Nazi references to crawling worms, Plath’s imaginative words make an impression on the reader, and help the reader fully understand her pain. I am sure that some of the people that have read this poem have wondered why she had shared such an intimate stage in her life with her audience. In my opinion I can only think that in some way (however minute it may have been), she experienced a type of self-therapy in her writing. I also think that one of the things she was trying to do was to bring depression and suicide out into the open. The issues of depression and suicide have such a stigma associated with them, even in today’s society. I am sure that the stigma involved was even worse when she wrote this poem. Even though Plath lived a life full of her personal pain and torment, she probably did not want anyone else to have to suffer the way that she did. Although this may all be speculation when it comes to why she wrote Lady Lazarus, one thing is clear. Depression is an all-consuming force if not reckoned with early on.
Works Cited
Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus.” Poetry Foundation. 1992. 13 September 2011.
Web. http://www.poetry foundation.org/poem/17896
