Every one of us has a father. We may hate him, we may love him, we may never even have met him, but he is a part of us. Sylvia Plath was a writer in the confessional school of poets (this may sound familiar from our English literature test range - ugh ;P) who wrote searchingly, often painfully. It is even sadder while reading this haunting poem if you remember that she was struggling with depression after her husband, Tom Hughes, left her, that her father really died when she was eight - though he left an impression on her that would influence her deeply, years and years after his death, and that she wrote this poem shortly before she committed suicide. :(
You can read the poem on Poets.org.
Daddy made me think a lot about my own relationship with my parents...I think everyone, whether happy or disappointed in their "daddy", can find something personal in Plath's writing. It's a very complicated, confusing, and sometimes cunning poem. If you have anything you don't understand or find mysterious in the poem, you can raise questions in the comments section and I'll reply to the best of my ability! :)
--Esther Haelan Ra
With a little research, I was able to find out that Plath herself described this poem as about "a girl with an Electra complex".
ReplyDeleteElectra complex is a psychological term for a child’s (girls usually around the age 3~7) psycho-sexual competition with her mother for possession of her father: A daughter literally "loving" her dad, in short.
We already know that Plath had her father dead at the age of 8. And this fact leads to an obvious result that Plath would have wanted a man who resembled her dad, or more like a substitute dad, which would be Tom Hughes-mentioned as her husband in Esther's writing.
Looking at the poem from this perspective, I thought this was not anything about family relationship, or a "dad-daughter" thing for Plath at all, but more of a bitter story of unreachable search for love.
We can see Plath's emotion moving in a chronological order in this poem.
First, her dad is described as a god: An existence there to be admired, and whom she wants recovered.(this I think, most clearly and simply shows her Electra complex)
And then, her dad's status as a god falls to a Nazi, and herself as a Jew. This shows her teenage life, memories of her dad's death acting like a tyrant and restraining her upon the past images of her dad.
Lines such as
"I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo."
and
"Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you."
imply that she feared, but at the same time still loved her dad, and this ambivalence is probably the cause of the "restraint" mentioned above.
She then attempts suicide in order to get back to her father. And after she fails (from this point is the part with the Electra complex) she decides to make "a model" of her dad. We can see how Tom Hughes is perceived as a mere "model", a substitute dad. The line
"If I've killed one man,I've killed two--
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,"
shows that after the break up with the "substitute dad", she is able to "kill" or let go of her dad at last.
Finally, we see the line
"Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through"
Expressing resent to the once god-like figure of admiration, expressing resent to her love that was impossible, unable to reach and only substituted by an impostor.
From this poem I was able to see a one-way love, a longing for something unattainable, a tragic love story of one woman. Plath's dad did not just influence her life. It seems like he himself was actually "her life as a whole"
Man..that was a really difficult piece to understand. and my comment is probably kinda boring (or weak in ideas or logic)..but still, it was very interesting for meㅋㅋ
gosh, she love her dad..
Deleteshe LOVED HER DAD??
that's kind of creepy and sad at the same time!!
thanks man for the explanation
all my confusion and mental destruction when I first read the poem got somewhat eased thanks to you!!
GREAT JOB BOO HOO
Subin Kwon
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this poem, I was dumbfounded by its confusing, strange tone and structures. Having read several times and researched its background, I could barely grasp Sylvia Plath’s feelings about her father. I have never had such strong emotions like intense obsession, fierce hatred and other perplexing masses: what she had toward her father throughout her entire life. But I could sympathize with her feeling by reading her poem through the eyes of a delicate girl who witnessed her father’s death at the age of 8, so became to seek a presence that can substitute her father. One thing I can clearly get from this confusing poem is that a father, regardless of how the relationship with him has been, is a touching and strong existence for everyone, remaining in our hearts for whole lives with different weights.
Robin: Wow, great job, man - you totally explained the whole poem instead of me ;) thanks!! I've never looked at "Daddy" that way - I've always thought of her as fearing her father more than loving him, but it's amazing (and a little creepy) to think of it in an "Electra complex" way... 0_0
ReplyDeleteSubin: thanks for your comment! I really agree with your sentiments and you summed up my thoughts for me pretty well :D
As for me, I read this poem chiefly as a cry of women against victimization. So many females have been victimized and crushed and confined throughout history in the "black boot" of males, and this poem captures that feeling of mingled attraction and persecution wonderfully. The line where the black man bit her "pretty red heart" in two made me shiver - so well written, isn't it? I LOVE Sylvia Plath...it makes me so sad that she didn't write more works!!! ahhh I would have bought them all and simply CONSUMED them :( I recommend everyone in Scriptura to read 'The Bell Jar', her only novel; I just finished it yesterday and it really made me think! (Plus, the heroine's name is Esther. Even though she does go crazy. And try to commit suicide. And sleep with lots of people. Uhhh...yay? :P)
Umm okay so back to topic. You know how in psychology there's this weird thing where the victim starts to love his/her torturer in a way? I think lots of girls feel that toward their husbands, and I definitely think a lot of kids feel that toward their parents. (Not that parents are all mean torturers!! >_< no offense, all the great parents out there) I mean, you want to run away but you can't let go...
Reading "Daddy" makes me realize how painful such victimization is, and how important it is to be able to let go, even "killing" the torturer inside us rather than letting ourselves get conquered.
Wow this really long comment is very disorganized but all in all, my conclusion is: I read this poem mainly as a cry, albeit very painful, for freedom - and it made me think a lot as I read it. Besides, the slightly creepy imagery is so beautifully expressed, I wanted to give you all a taste of one of my favorite poets :)
I have to say, this poem was very different from the types of poems that I usually read. First, I think that the poet used such acute words in order to show her anger to her father. But I do not think this detest is actual hatred. I think that it is actually a kind of pink hatred, where she loves him to much, that she was sad/angry with his permanent departure. Also, at the end, when she said I'm through you, I think it meant that 'I'm gonna live my own life without mourning everyday for you'. I don't really have any real life experiences and, although maybe it's because i'm a more scientific guy, I don't really like poems that talk about one thing but has so much decorative language to explain it. I'm fine with enough but in my standards, it was a little too much. by Hyuck Choi
ReplyDeleteSilvia Path, I passed through some of her poems during an english literature class. At that time I was confused by her poem, I still am. But this poem "Daddy" was better. Silvia Path seems to be not a feminine woman we expect in movies and stories, nor a little girl who weeps. Our Silvia Path in "Daddy" seems more like a heroine: a woman who will be out of her father's(masculine) shadows and of her own identity.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I could emphatise with Silvia on her father's death. Not that any relative of mine died, but whenever i have nightmares of such, I always seem to be extremely angry at them for leaving me.
The first time when I literally just SCANNED the poetry, i didn't understand what was going on there but for some reason goosebumps were on my arms and some sense of foreboding in there.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, she was from the CONFESSIONAL SCHOOL.
no wander her poem was so... so... freaky and ominous
Well, losing your dad and your husband will drive anyone to the point of sad madness.
For each line she didn't use much words, so I got the feeling of.. of... when a mad person stammers and gets all crazy.. yeah that kind of feeling.
maybe it's just me, having watched too many scary psychotic movies.
But I could feel the potential anger in her voice waiting to leap out at the reader and at the end
BAM
DADDY DADDY YOU BASTARD IM THROUGH
gosh
scary huh
It would be real cool to make a scary movie out of this