Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Lady Lazarus
I thought the metaphor used by Sylvia Plath of herself being a "Lady Lazarus" was an interesting consideration. Understanding that the poem deals solely with her attempts at suicide gives the biblical reference a dark connotation. The reason Plath gives for being a Lazarus isn't necessarily because of her own want to be raised, but because someone else stopped her from death. She desired to die, but wasn't allowed to because society doesn't allow it. When she refers to herself as Lazarus, she does so cynically. Lines 43-48 exemplify her want to die: "Dying / Is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well. / I do it so it feels like hell. / I do it so it feels real. / I guess you could say I've a call." It doesn't seem as though the speaker is alive out of her own free will; she clearly wants to die and considers herself good at it. Her language makes her sound sort of like the walking dead; she is here on this earth but clearly doesn't want to be and looks forward to another opportunity to leave it.
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I agree -- this poem seems very dark, especially when reading it was Plath's suicide in mind. Like you said, throwing in the Lazarus metaphor made the whole thing even stranger. She clearly has differences from Lazarus -- the biggest being she wants to die, is attempting to die, and he seems to want to live. However, both of them are raised, yet like you said, the speaker of this poem is cynical about the whole thing rather than joyful such as in Lazarus's story. I thought the way you referred to her as the walking dead was also very interesting; it certainly doesn't seem as if she is truly alive.
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