How has your understanding of personal perspectives been illuminated by your comparative study of the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes?

The comparative study of the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes illuminates how the differing perspectives change the ideas authors present in their texts. Plath’s confessional poems, ‘Daddy’ and ‘A Birthday Present’, Ariel (2001), assert her disconnection from the neglectful men in her life to show her newfound independence. Additionally, Plath shows how stifling domesticity caused her to seek freedom through death. Hughes provides his personal perspective to reframe Plath’s ideas in ‘The Shot’ and ‘Red’, Birthday Letters (1999), to argue that Plath’s unstable psyche was the cause of her suicide, rather than his neglect as a husband. Hughes also inverts Plath’s ideas to show that her unstable psyche caused her suicide, not the patriarchy. Comparing the work of Plath and Hughes illuminates how the personal perspectives of these authors change the narratives that they present in their work. Plath asserts her disconnection from her neglectful father and husband to show her newfound independence in ‘Daddy’. Plath’s father, Otto, neglected his own health and died when Plath was only eight years old, traumatising her for life. This prompted Plath to disconnect from Otto, as evidenced by the repetition of “You do not do, you do not do” to share her perspective on the inadequacy of Otto as a father. Plath uses Nazi symbolism, “Chuffing me off like a Jew. A Jew to Dachau”, to illuminate the neglect she received from Otto. Plath claims that “Every woman adores a fascist”, using the extended ‘Nazi’ metaphor, to justify her acceptance of her mistreatment. Plath states that “I made a model of you”, using metaphor to illuminate Hughes’ neglect of her. Plath portrays a feminist metanarrative by disconnecting from Otto and Hughes, using pause to declare “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through”,

providing her new personal perspective on these men. Plath uses her enlightened perspective to paint herself as powerful and independent by criticising and disconnecting from the neglectful male figures in her life. While Plath asserts her disconnection from the neglectful men in her life, Hughes uses ‘The Shot’ to reframe these events from his perspective and argue that Plath’s unstable psyche was the cause of her suicide, rather than his neglect as a husband. Hughes’ writing of ‘The Shot’ followed the societal embrace of the Western feminist movement causing him to absolve himself of any blame after the backlash he received from Plath’s death. Hughes demonstrates Plath’s obsessive personality to distance himself from any accusations, using the extended ‘god’ metaphor to prove that she had existing deep-seated issues with her psyche, “Your worship needed a god.” This is contrary to Plath’s claim that “I made a model of you”, which asserts that Hughes’ treatment of her echoed that of her father. Hughes elaborates and explains how Otto’s death traumatised Plath, using the bullet metaphor, “Your Daddy had been aiming you at God when his death pulled the trigger”, to provide his perspective on why Plath was so unstable. Hughes uses metonyms of depression, “sob-sodden Kleenex”, “Saturday night panics”, to highlight Plath’s depression from his perspective and show that he was not the root cause of her issues. Hughes continues his use of symbolism to explain that Plath’s ‘god’ was her father, “you had gone clean through me – to bury yourself at last in the heart of the god”, to show how he was powerless against her will to die. Hughes shifts the perspective from Plath’s to his own, to illuminate and provide insight into how Plath’s psyche ultimately led to her death.

In 'A Birthday Present', Plath demonstrates how patriarchal oppression caused her to feel that suicide was the only way she could be free. While Plath was married to Hughes, she was resigned to most domestic duties, while raising their children, writing poetry and publishing the couple’s work. Plath uses anthropomorphism of ‘death’, “When I am quiet at my cooking I can feel it looking”, to explain how her subjugation to her patriarchal role degrades her mental health. Plath accentuates her hatred for her role by using the symbol of “rules, to rules” to show how she lacks self-government and freedom. Plath provides her perspective using an unapologetic tone, “I would have killed myself gladly”, to demonstrate how stifling domesticity induces her suicidal urges. The middle of the poem marks a turning point to demonstrate her desperation for freedom from her domestic life, as evidenced by the ‘veil’ motif, “Only let down the veil… If it were death.” Plath ultimately glorifies suicide with the use of simile, “Pure and clean as the cry of a baby”, to show her deep and inherent desire to end her life as a result of her forced domesticity. Plath shows the reader how her domestic lifestyle under the patriarchy causes her to wish for freedom through death. While Plath shows how domesticity made her wish for death, Hughes recontextualises Plath’s narrative in ‘Red’ to contradict Plath and prove that her volatility actively destroyed their family, not the patriarchy. During their relationship, Hughes benefitted from Plath’s prolific talents, but at the expense of her volatility and anger. Hughes uses symbolism, “Red was your colour… Blood-red.”, to highlight the extent of Plath’s inner turmoil and anger. Hughes shows how Plath’s volatility invaded even their intimate life, using symbolism,

“Our room was red”, to explain how Plath’s volatility was inescapable. Hughes uses connotations of purity associated with ‘white’, “Only the bookshelves escaped into whiteness”, to show how Plath’s writing painted her in a greater light. Hughes claims that “Blue was your kindly spirit… electrified, a guardian, thoughtful”, using the motif of colour to demonstrate Plath’s dual nature. Hughes displays how Plath’s instability controlled her life with metaphor, “In the pit of red… the jewel you lost was blue”, to show how Plath’s volatility ultimately destroyed their family and relationship. Hughes provides his personal perspective to illuminate how Plath’s volatility and anger destroyed their relationship, and not her domestic role. Through the comparative analysis of Plath and Hughes poems, we are given an insight into how personal perspectives affect one’s retelling of events. Plath asserts her disconnection from neglectful men and her suffering as a result of her domesticity in her poems. However, upon reading Hughes work where we are shown how Hughes believes he was not responsible for Plath’s death and that her volatility and anger destroyed their relationship, we can use both perspectives of these poets to have a better understanding of their lives.