Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Lady Lazarus
I thought this poem was very good especially after reading it over a few times. I believe that in this poem by Sylvia Plath, the speaker represents a female Jesus. She states that she has already died and come back to life three times. The first time she died it was an accident but the second time, she committed suicide. She references "the grave cave" similar to Jesus who was also buried in a cave. Jesus also came back "in broad day/ to the same place, the same face, the same brute." The audience to her death seems to be obsessed with her resurrection . She puts everyone into this audience when she says "you" in line 74. This women is dehumanized by her inability to die and her inability to move, as her right foot is a paper weight. The audience doesn't care who she is, or even that shes human they only use her for entertainment and distraction. Also, the audience is ungrateful if she is dieing for their sins.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
In terms of Lady Lazarus, while I can see how it is very well supported that she would be similar to Jesus, I cannot help but consider her instead closer in relation to a cat. After all, Jesus was considered to be an ultimate being after having been resurrected once, but a person who has been resurrected 3 times branches into an entirely new category of being. While it is fictional that a cat has nine lives, it is the only other creature with whom resurrections is mentioned to occur more than once. After all, can she really be human if she lacks mortality? The fact that her audience has disinterest in her is astounding because she is suppose to have defeated death even more times than Jesus! yet in doing so she appears to lack what makes one essentially human-mortality. Or at least is unable to remain dead...Her continued resurrections leave one to believe perhaps she has a soul similar to a cat's and still has six lives yet to live.
Post a Comment