My face is a featureless, fine.
Jew linen ("Lady Lazarus" 4-9).
She makes use of Nazi imagery when she explains her suicide attempts and subtly names her doctor as a Nazi. By making such harsh connections to her oppressor, the reader can see Sylvia Plath's use of feminist writing flourish in order to prove the true issues of oppressive patriarchy. .
And there is a charge, a very large charge .
For a word or a touch .
Or a bit of blood.
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes. .
So, so, Herr Doctor. .
So, Herr Enemy.
I am your opus,.
I am your valuable, .
The pure gold baby.
That melts to a shriek. .
I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash, ash-.
You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there." (Lady Lazarus, 61-75).
In this passage, Plath explains how she is merely an object to her male oppressor; he attempts to create a spectacle of her suicide attempts to the "peanut-crunching crowd" by picking and prodding at her until there is nothing left for him to take from her, as if because of him, she is unable to obtain death and this means that he takes the one thing she longs for the most ("Lady Lazarus 26). By writing this poem, Plath points out how her entire existence is controlled by a man. She also gives meaningful diversity to this man by connecting his actions to Nazis, God, and Lucifer; as the doctor creates a performance of her suicide, takes everything that is meaningful away from her, miraculously brings her back to life, and sends her to hell by waking her up from death. When Plath says "Dying/Is an art, like everything else/ I do it exceptionally well" ("Lady Lazarus" 43-45), she is using snide sarcasm regarding how she really is not good at anything because she is unable to kill herself due to the control of her oppressor. She has no confidence in her own capabilities because, as mentioned above, her existence solely depends on the decisions of the male doctor.
