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Commentary on Lady Lazarus - Sylvia Plath

 

            
             In this poem Sylvia Plath is talking about her invincibility in the face of the suicide attempts that she made. .
             The title "Lady Lazarus" suggests that she is most probably referring to herself, and that even after all her suicide attempts she is still alive, and came back from the dead numerous times.
             The first stanza is talking about her first suicide attempt. "One year in every ten" - it could mean that death happens in her life every 10 years. First was her fathers death when she was 10 years old, and then her suicide attempt at 20 and so on.
             In the second stanza she is showing off the fact that she is still alive "A sort of walking miracle". She once again links in herself with the holocaust, and compares herself to the Jews. The third stanza is also just comparing herself to the Jews and what they went through during the holocaust. The fourth stanza it seems like she wants to uncover something "O my enemy" - this could be referring to herself or perhaps her father. .
             In the next two stanzas she is describing a decomposing body and talking about death. .
             "Like the cat I have nine times to die" - she talks about herself like she is a cat that had nine lives, and how she tries to die over and over but she always manages to come back. She was commenting on the fact that twice she had tried to kill herself and twice it did not work. .
             Stanza eight she mentions her third suicide attempt. In the next stanza when she says: .
             "The peanut-crunching crowd, shoves in to see.
             Them unwrap me hand and foot.
             The big strip tease".
             I think she is referring to the fact that all she is to the public is entertainment, like a freak show. Also that she is just a piece of scandal that the public pass freely around as they shove their way through crowds to get a glimpse of he dead body. They unwrap her dead body like a mummy, but comes back to life. "Gentleman, ladies" - just like in a circus, the whole idea of her just being a bit of entertainment is pointed out here.


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