Sylvia Plath: The Fearful - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Sylvia Plath has a rich history of American poetry. Her work was unique and inspirational because she used poetry to tell her story to the world. In her poem "The Fearful," she expresses her feelings and perspective of life in relation to her experiences (Alexander). One fact from the poet's biography that helped in understanding the poem was her childhood life that was full of challenges like mental illness that may have led to some of her life struggles (Neurotic Poets). The learning of `the fact that she experienced psychological problems in her childhood helps me understand this poem from her historical point of view.

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I believe that the mental illnesses contributed significantly to the various suicidal thoughts and attempts in her lifetime. Especially when her father died, she was not thinking straight; she felt that maybe her father could have prevented his death, making it look like he had a choice. This aspect led to her first attempt at suicide. She was filled with mixed emotions of fear, love, anger, and betrayal. At this point, all she wanted was to end her life so that she could go back to her father, and Plath proved that she wanted to meet with her father even though it was in death. This aspect is reflected in the poem "Fearful" when she says that "She would rather be dead than fat" (Plath et al.).

The poem is about a couple whose relationship was affected by lies. The lies were part of her life experiences with Hughes, who is the subject of this poem. Being a poet, Plath had written many poems about love and relationships. It is expected that she had seen such experiences whereby lovers lie to each other and ending with a breaking up. The society has many incidences of men cheating on their wives and vice versa; hence, Plath could not expect a similar scenario to happen in her relationship. This aspect shows that she lacked the mental capacity to deal with such heart-breaking life experiences leading to her third suicidal attempt that was successful and led to her death.

Plath uses figurative language to enrich her poem. She uses a mask to illustrate Hughes' nature of lying and hiding the truth from her. She also uses personification to represent the curved and non-transparent nature of her husband. In her poem, she uses her husband as a representative of all men, meaning that she thought all men were unfaithful, and that's why she could not think of any options rather than ending her life. The inability to deal with such situations was a representation of mental weaknesses that could have been as a result of her earlier life.

The mental weakness aspect was can also be shown by the 7th and 8th lines of this poem in which she mentions that after the truth of unfaithfulness in the man is unmasked, the woman is weakened and dies internally. These lines also illustrate how Plath's feminine nature had deteriorated. She no longer wanted to be a woman because Hughes' act had eroded her woman instincts. She thought she could not have had babies because they stole her beauty and made the man look at her differently and perhaps move to a more prettier looking woman. The words indicated her disappointment in being a woman as the thoughts accelerated to suicidal nature.

The entire poem is subjugated by a depressed tone that illustrates the destructive power of lies and the consequences of lying. However, the tone also indicates Plath's mental instability. Mental illnesses are known to cause depressed mood, and when it becomes persistent, it leads to a loss of interest in various aspects of life. This situation can impair one's ability to think straight and make sound decisions. As shown in her poem, Plath lost interest in living, and this aspect is derived from the phrase "dead and perfect" (Plath et al). The reality in the poem came to pass after she took her life. She stuck her head on to a gas oven and adjusted the gas valve to release large volumes of gas till she suffocated.

The choice of a depressed tone also created some enthusiasm aspects to the readers. It makes one want to find out more about what eventually happens to the character. This aspect helped me in researching more on the author's intention in writing this poem hence widening my understanding. In the fifth line of the poem, the author says that "The mask increases, eats the worm" (Plath et al), a statement that ignites excitement to the aftermath. Also, the connection of her work to her life made her poetry more popular. People felt more realistic and experience some emotional drive for her in various ways. This aspect also increases the reader's understanding of her poetic pieces.

Another aspect of the poem that illustrated mental instability was the gender aspect; time and again, she implied changing from being a woman to possessing similar characteristics of a man. Besides, she was aware of her unstable relationship but her life, but she put her intentions in public. Plath seemed not to care about her image and what people thought about her. It is not usual for a well-known personality as Plath to indicate that she was tired of herself. Most people would rather die in silence than let the public discover their inner thoughts. Equally, she did not fear the people's wrath, especially when making them know she hated being a woman to the extent of regretting bearing children. It is evident that while she was writing this poem, her mental strength had deteriorated.

Plath wrote this poem shortly before she committed suicide (Alexander). She used this time to inform the reader of her quickly deteriorating mental health. Just as a section of previous poems that she had written, "The Fearful" was a warning on the effects of mental illnesses and an indicator of how crucial it is to ensure that the affected individuals receive proper attention regardless of their social status.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the challenges from the author's biography, especially the mental struggles in her childhood, significantly shaped my understanding of the poem "The Fearful." Despite those challenges, Plath was a talented poet who used her writing to show her emotions. Even though she succumbed to depression and gave herself to death, Plath had a fantastic talent in her way of communication, and she left a mark that can never be erased through the history of poetry. Even though Plath's poetry is grim and dark, her light shone on the world, even though she never lived to witness.

Work Cited

Alexander, Paul. Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath. New York: DaCapo Press, 1999.

Neurotic Poets. Sylvia Plath 1932-1963. neuroticpoets.com, Accessed February 4 2020, https://neuroticpoets.com/plath/

Plath, Sylvia, Peter K. Steinberg, and Karen V. Kukil. The Letters of Sylvia Plath. New York: Harper, 2017.