The Lady Lazarus

In class today we were given poems to read by Sylvia Plath, and Lady Lazarus really speaks to me for some reason. To be totally honest, I had read it over three times and still didn't understand what the poem was actually saying. It's just that the third time I read it out loud and the language and rhythm of the poem were both incredibly well done.

My first interpretation was that this poem was spoken Lady Lazarus, who is in some ways a version of Sylvia Plath's inner self. It talks about how she 'manage[s]' to die every decade, and I took this to mean times she's been close to death. The first time when she was ten was an accident, but the second time was on purpose. The third time isn't really talked about much. Unless the third death is what the poem is about... I don't know, I'm not very good analyzing poems.

Because of the fact tat I am not good at analyzing poems and also did not understand whatsoever what the rest of the poem was saying, I decided to cheat and look it up. The summary and analysis I found (http://www.gradesaver.com/sylvia-plath-poems/study-guide/summary-lady-lazarus) did clear up some of the questions I'd been having. The reference to Germans and Nazi's and herself as a Jew are symbolic to show how she feels oppressed, and also it criticizes the "peanut-crunching crowd". They seem to be enjoying her deaths and re-rise, as referenced in the "The big strip tease" stanza and also in the way the poem talks about there being a charge to see her scars, hear her heart, to touch her, etc. This is apparently supposed to criticize them in the way that Germans just ignored the Holocaust and were complacent. The use of "Herr Dokter" "Herr Enemy" and such were to make a statement about how she was being oppressed by this figure.

Though the poem is obviously about suicide and the main character wanting to die (with the oppressor not letting her have the peace of death she desires, and the "peanut-crunching" gallery being unhelpful voyeurs) what I didn't realize until I read the analysis was that this poem is about about a female's struggle in a patriarchal world. She keeps being brought back to life against her wishes, for what simply seems to be so that others can view her pain for entertainment.

I think it's important to realize that, because it's a recurring theme in Plath's work (and we've all read The Bell Jar by now, so we should recognize this). I also looked up when Plath died, and it was only a few months after this poem was written (published?) and I think that's important as well because it gives us, as readers, a better idea of the issues Plath was struggling with when she got back into the depression. The same issues with patriarchal society that contributed to her struggles in the years represented in The Bell Jar continue to be a huge issue for her throughout her life leading up to Plath's suicide.