"Mirror" by Silvia Plath

Mirror by Sylvia Plath

Akasha, Rhys, and Robyn

Conclusion

In this presentation, we have analyzed the poem Mirror by Sylvia Plath, looking at its structure and meaning. We also have related its themes of confidence, honesty, and appearance versus reality to the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

Interactive Activity

Honesty + Macbeth

Honesty

The theme of honesty relates to the play Macbeth, because in the play, there is a lot of lying and deceit between characters. Macbeth and his wife hide the fact that they were behind King Duncan’s murder, framing innocent people in the process, “Here lay Duncan. His silver skin laced with his golden blood. And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature for ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers, steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggers unmannerly breech’d with gore.” (2.3.127-132)

Later, Macbeth hides his plan of killing Banquo from his wife, "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, til thou applaud the deed." (3.2.___), and he hides the reason why Banquo isn't at the banquet.

Another theme of Mirror is honesty. The mirror only shows what it sees, so it is truthful. It cannot make anything up, and it tells you like it is: "I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike." Despite the woman's feelings about her current image and how she longs to look like she did when she was young, the mirror can only show what is in front of it: "Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish."

Appearance vs Reality

Confidence + Macbeth

A theme that is shared between the poem and the play Macbeth is appearance vs.reality. Both show that how someone looks on the outside can determine who they are inside.

In the poem:

-How the woman really looks and how she perceives herself.

"In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman"

In the play:

-How Macbeth may seem very strong and courageous but when we get to know his character it seems like he can be indecisive and will change his mind.

"For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name —

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave." (1.2.16-20).

"First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,

Who should against his murderer shut the door,

Not bear the knife myself"(1.7.13-16

Confidence

Throughout Macbeth, confidence is a constant struggle, and it ultimately leads to Macbeth’s downfall. He thinks that confidence is necessary for success, however, it needs to be equally balanced with humility. Otherwise, failure is inevitable.

The strategy the witches used to lead Macbeth to his death was taking his building confidence, and shooting it through the roof. The witches succeed in making Macbeth overconfident to the point of unreasonable thinking and actions.

"The mind I sway by and the heart I bear shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear." (5.3.9-10)

"Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of women born shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.79)

One theme of Mirror is confidence. As the mirror continues to describe what it sees, the woman that owns the mirror loses her confidence as she ages. She begins to use false lighting like the moon or candles to help herself embrace her appearance more, however she always goes back to the honesty of the mirror in daylight and cries at the sight of herself the older she gets: “She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.”

She believes beauty is youth. With the loneliness and bitterness the mirror feels towards the people and its owner, the mirror revels in the fact that it can push down the woman’s confidence with her aged image. If the woman was more confident, she would use the mirror to feel better about herself, not worse, and the mirror would no longer have the effect it does on the woman. “I am important to her. She comes and goes.”

Tone of the Poem

The tone of Mirror is woefu; the poem is about the aging process of a woman and the harsh truth of her youthful beauty disappearing as she grows older: “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.”

It is told from the perspective of the mirror she looks into. The author of the poem, Sylvia Plath, seems to be writing about personal emotions that she herself can relate to, as women are often self-conscious of their appearance, and regularly look to the truth of their mirrors despite how brutally honest it can be: “I am not cruel, only truthful”

Significant Words and Phrases

Literary and Poetic Devices

Poem Structure

Preconceptions - Suggests that inanimate objects can have thoughts and ideas, and that the mirror has no prior opinions.

Unmisted - Gives more character to the mirror as well as provides imagery.

Now I am a lake - This is a metaphor for the mirror being so full of despair and tears that it is no longer an ordinary mirror.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon - After searching in the mirror, she turns to the candles and moonlight to try and alter her reflection. The mirror calls them liars, because their light can change the woman's appearance, hiding blemishes or wrinkles and making someone appear more beautiful.

In me she has drowned a young girl - As the woman gets older, she feels uglier, and the younger, prettier version of her has been drowned by the older, less attractive version of her.

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful,

The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Both stanzas of the poem have the same amount of lines, but each individual line is different, showing how there can be good and bad aspects of the mirror.

The lines go from long to short, showing how there can be ups and downs to the woman's self-esteem, and how different she feels about her appearance now than how she looked when she was younger.

Certain sentences end in the middle of a line like how your day could be going great and then that happy feeling stops as soon as you see yourself in the mirror, or you could be having a bad day and then you see how gorgeous you look: "I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers."

Legend:

X = Ejambment X = Metaphor X = Alliteration

X = Personification X = Simile X = Repetition

X = Hyperbole X = Assonance

Sylvia Plath

Mirror

Introduction

Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1932. Plath met and married British poet Ted Hughes, though the two later split. Throughout her life Sylvia was plagued with depression and attempted to kill herself many times before committing suicide by putting her head in her oven in 1963. She gained many honours after her death for the novel The Bell Jar, and the poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel. In 1982, Plath became the first person to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize.

In the poem Mirror, Plath may have expressed some of the depression she felt. She talks about not feeling beautiful as she got older, as well as the amount of tears she shed.

The poem Mirror by Sylvia Plath can be analyzed and examined in various ways. We will be relating it to the Shakespearean play Macbeth, and looking at the similarities between their themes of confidence, honesty, and appearance versus reality.

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful ‚

The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.