Sylvia Plath was an American poet who wrote many brilliant, yet controversial poems, including her well-known work, "Daddy." In the poem, Plath makes use of heavy, even harsh, words, conveying to her readers her literal hatred towards her father who had made her life miserable. However, during the second reading of the poem, I find that the feeling of love can be easily discovered in between the lines. Therefore, we can say that Sylvia Plath's feelings towards her father are rather confusing. Thus, in the discussion below I will highlight three points on her feeling towards her father which are the distance between them, the torn feelings she had for her father and her obsessions. .
In the poem "Daddy," Plath felt a distance between her and her father. This is because Plath's father, the protagonist in this poem died when she was eight years old. He died when she was at an age where she needs his love and attention the most. It can be seen when she saw her father as a strong and holy figure as stated in stanza two, "a bag full of God ". Besides that, she also mentions her father as "marble-heavy ", "ghastly statue with one gray toe " that is too far to reach. As we all know, marble is associated with luxury but is also cold and hard, thus, suggesting Otto Plath as a cold and unreachable father. It continues with stanza five where she writes "I never could talk to you. The tongue stuck in my jaw. " this shows that during her childhood, she feared her dad and was unable to have a conversation with her dad. Perhaps if he had lived a little longer maybe she would have had a chance to get along with him, but his early death made him a stranger to her. .
The second description about Plath's feelings towards her father is torn between love and hatred for her father. Throughout the poem, she expresses the feeling in a very contradictory and confusing way. In stanza two, she clearly says that "Daddy, I have had to kill you.
