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Could the 'Daddy' figure in this poem be a metaphor for something besides the speaker's literal father?

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Could the 'Daddy' figure in this poem be a metaphor for something besides the speaker's literal father?

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The proper noun 'Daddy' gives the poem a very accusatory and personal tone. The childish nature makes Plath seem vunerable and a victim, it could also be used sarcastically as 'daddy' is a loving and innocent way which is the polar opposite to how she feels about her father who she refers to as Hitler throughout the rest of the poem.

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What is the effect of the speaker's comparison of herself to a Jew in the Holocaust?

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What is the effect of the speaker's comparison of herself to a Jew in the Holocaust?

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The use of the vivid and disturbing extended metaphor, 'I began to talk like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew.' suggests that Plath links the fear and terror of her father with the struggle of the Jewish people against the Germans. It also shows the strength and depth of her suffering however she exaggerates her personal suffering by comparing it to millions. The repetition of the noun 'Jew' could also relate to her vulnerablitiy and entrapment of the heavy and strained relationship.

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do you think the speaker is so vicious towards her father because he was a bad person , or because she is sad that he died ? 

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do you think the speaker is so vicious towards her father because he was a bad person , or because she is sad that he died ? 

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The speaker seems to be vicious towards her father because of the relationship she had with him and possibly because she feels she did not have an opportunity to tell him how she felt because of her death . However the speaker does refer to her father with authoritarian and distant images ; for example "ghastly statue" also the declarative's "i have to kill you " and " i have always been scared of you " give an impression that the speaker did view her father as a bad person .

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What comment does this poem's description of marriage make on the idea of freedom and confinement in marriage?

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What comment does this poem's description of marriage make on the idea of freedom and confinement in marriage?

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'A man with a Meinkampf look And a love of the rack and a screw'

Plath's comparison of her husband to 'a Meinkampf look' reflects this idea and pattern of being oppressed, confined and restricted. Also her comparison of her husband's love like a 'rack and a screw' creates this vicious imagery of torture and for Plath, emotional pain. As well as giving this idea of a relationship with constraints to your physical and mental freedom, which clearly impacted greatly on Plath's mental health and possibly led to her downfall ans deterioration.

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Why do you think the speaker wants to kill her father even though he's already dead?

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Why do you think the speaker wants to kill her father even though he's already dead?

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It is clear that Plath wants to 'kill' her relationship with her father. She possibly feels that she must disconnect all feelings that she once had in connection with him and can finally do so 'So daddy, I'm finally through'. However these images of violence along side others such as 'stake in your fat black heart', 'stamping on you' and 'drank my blood' imply the speaker is revealing the emotional 'torture' that she feels she has received. In this sense the idea of 'killing' her father may well be a metaphor for the need she has to kill her negative emotions harbored against him and their relationship.

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How does this poem comment on the freedom of women in society, especially in the 1960s?

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How does this poem comment on the freedom of women in society, especially in the 1960s?

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In "Daddy", Plath doesn't bluntly open up about the idea of feminism, however beneath the insults towards her father, we see her general rage towards men and the patriarchal society of the time.

For example, there is a high frequency of juxtaposed images of herself and her father. In the first stanza, she refers to her father as "black shoe" and herself as "poor and white", emphasising her innocence in comparison to her father's evil. This comparison of colours is frequent throughout, such as when she calls him "the black man" in comparison to her "pretty red heart". By use of these juxtapositions, Plath claims that men as a species are dark and dangerous, opposed to the purity of women, linking to her belief that marriage is the corruption of a woman's innocence.

Plath also states "I made a model of you", and "every woman loves a fascist", adjacent to the fact that she believes that all women are corrupted by men into a one-sided relationship. She claims that she lives in a society where women are obliged to marry evil men; and live saddening lives because of it. This is also explanatory of the Electra complex, a Freudian theory where a women is unconsciously romantically in love with her father, and therefore is attracted to those similar qualities in other men. By referring to this theory to exemplify a woman's relationship with her husband ("a model" of a father-daughter relationship) is indicative of the patriarchal views that enable men to control women, and that women must be obedient to men.

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What is the effect of the husband and father's portrayal as vampires?

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What is the effect of the husband and father's portrayal as vampires?

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The portrayal of the husband and father as vampires represents the narrator, Plath, as innocent. In contrast to this, the two men are portrayed as super natural, blood sucking monsters. The action of vampires is to take life from their victim. Plath uses the imagery to represent the fact that she feels her life has been taken by her father and her husband. The vampires took life from her and also are represented as scary, morbid, brutal and haunting people in her life.

Plath's husband 'drank my (her) blood for a year, seven years if you want to know'. There is an element of sarcasm within the description of her father and husband shown by 'Daddy, you can lie back now'. This is an address to her husband and father, telling them both that they can stop haunting her and taking her life.

The metaphor of describing the two men in her life as vampires links to the theme of death running throughout the poem. Vampires are the un dead, meaning they are dead but act as though they are alive. This represents the torture that Plath endures in her mind from her husband and father.

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How do you interpret line 71- "If I've killed one man, I've killed two"?

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How do you interpret line 71- "If I've killed one man, I've killed two"?

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Previously in the poem Plath mentions making a model of her father which we can assume is her husband, Ted Hughes. The first man she mentions here is her father and the second is likely a reference to her husband. It is ambiguous as to why she says she has killed her father seeing as though she never actually killed him, he died of natural causes. Here she is comparing her father and husband and basically saying they were similar which links to the idea that women are attracted to men that are similar to their fathers. The fact that she says that if she killed her father, she killed her husband, links to this.

She possibly infers that in her head she has killed these men, maybe through her poems. She has clearly thought in the past that she wanted to kill these men.

The declarative sentence infers that she is regaining control over men after having to deal with her father and her husband being controlling.

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How does the speaker make this poem about men in general instead of just her Father?

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How does the speaker make this poem about men in general instead of just her Father?

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The title is 'Daddy' which is a masculine noun (informal). To compare her Father to Hitler one of the most infamous evil men in history represents her anger. The poem is like read like a chant/ritual the anger is all aimed at men.

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What is the effect of the speaker's suicide attemp

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What is the effect of the speaker's suicide attemp

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'I was ten when they buried you.

At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.'

With a gap of Ten years from the time she buried him to thwe time the speaker tried to join him shows the extensive effect his death had on him. The repetition of the word 'Back' shows her want to talk to him abourt what she is feeling as she never had that chance.

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What is the effect of the father's portrayal as a devil?    

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What is the effect of the father's portrayal as a devil?    

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"But no less a devil for that, no not". Plath is descibing her father as the devil. "No not" is enjambment as it's carried across onto another line without a pause. Plath's father was never there or provided any support he is the devil. Also Plath describes her father to have a cleft in his chin, which still sounds like a pretty normal physical description, but then she says that this cleft is in his chin instead of his foot. Perhaps indicating that no human would have this physical feature so that again signifies the devil.

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What does the image of the speaker being confined in a shoe evoke for you

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What does the image of the speaker being confined in a shoe evoke for you

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its really confined and closed off, she isnt allowed to move around or be free "Black shoe in which i have lived like a foot" the simile also emphasize how she feels controlled by her dad, she is a limb that he can use whenever he wants. she is trapped and cant be free, it shows how her relationship with her father is trapped and suffocation really, which also ties in with the line "barely daring to breath or Achoo" she feels soffocated and controlled. The adverb "barely" shows how she cant even attempt to get away, It showed how she really had been damaged.

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What effect does the use of "Daddy" instead of "Father" have on this poem

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What effect does the use of "Daddy" instead of "Father" have on this poem

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The use of the informal noun 'daddy' makes the narrative voice sound childish, it adds innocence to the voice, even though the overall tone of the poem is very dark.

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Does the speaker mean that every woman loves a fascist, or is she being sarcastic?

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Does the speaker mean that every woman loves a fascist, or is she being sarcastic?

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Plath could be interpreted as making an ironic comment recognising her attraction to authoritarian men.

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How does the German language create communication issues in this poem?

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How does the German language create communication issues in this poem?

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It creates the idea that Plath and her father can't communicate well as she doesn't like the language inferring that if she doesn't like it, she probably doesn't speak it which creates a barrier in communication for them both.

Also it could suggest that if she's referring to herself as a jew and if her father is speaking German, it creates the image of two opposing people thus creating the image that they wouldn't see eye to eye or communicate well.

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What is the effect of the juxtaposition of the supernatural with historical events like the Holocaust. 

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What is the effect of the juxtaposition of the supernatural with historical events like the Holocaust. 

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The juxtaposition of the supernatural with the historical events could represent Plath and her father as they are both opposites to each other. It could also suggest that Plath wishes her father's death wasn't real because it has destroyed her.

The juxtaposition of reality and the supernatural is used to blur reality and suggest her inability to distinguish between reality. This shows that she is confused and her father's influence has caused her to go mad. The use of the supernatural images suggests that her father haunts her and he is always in her mind. "Ghastly statue" The historical events such as the Holocaust suggest that he has destroyed her freedom just the Nazi's destroyed the Jews. "I think I may well be a Jew." This suggests that her father keeps destroying her freedom and can't get rid of him.

The juxtaposition could also suggest that Plath is referring to men controlling women during the early 1930-60. "The vampire who said he was you And drank my blood for a year." this suggests that her father controlled her until he died and then her husband started controlling her and destroyed her again by taking away her freedom. This suggests that women were controlled by men

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THE EFFECT OF COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SPEAKER'S FATHER AND NAZIS -

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THE EFFECT OF COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SPEAKER'S FATHER AND NAZIS -

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Relates the two images as one , empowering her father with the same ideology as the nazis and hitler, ilinking authoritarian, controlling aspects to her father.