Womens Quest For Identity in Sylvia Plaths "Mirror".

by yukie524 (student)

Yukie Kwok

Suzanne Wong

ENGE 1320

27 Feb 2013

Women’s Quest For Identity in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror

No matter who you are, where you are from and how old you are, you have that burning desire to find your identity and self-understanding, because you want to know your purpose and what you want in life. You may run into various difficulties and hindrances during the search for the true self. Plath’s Mirror displays a woman who tries to figure out “what she really is” by looking at her reflections from an honest household mirror and a reflective lake. Not only does she see her own reflection from the mirror, she also sees how the society, men, and most importantly herself get in her way in search for her identity and self-definition.

The society suppresses women’s urge to figure out their identities in two ways: the overemphasis on physical beauty and the imposition of domestic role on women. It is well perceived that the younger and the more beautiful the woman is, the more worthy and valuable she becomes. However, when a woman starts to grow old and lose her fairness, her value decreases as well. In the poem, beyond merely looking at her reflection, the woman “has drowned a young girl” in the lake. The “young girl” refers to the younger self of the woman and the death of the young girl symbolizes the loss of her beauty and youth. A woman’s loss of beauty and vibrancy also symbolizes the loss of the ability to find her true self. The woman in the poem is simply trying to satisfy the society-defined ideals but not looking for her true identity. When the woman looks at her reflection, she realizes that she ages and she is not as pretty as she was. She feels worthless and distressed and “rewards [the lake] with tears and an agitation of hands” as she is taught that looks alone constitute to one’s position and identity in the society. In her reflection in the lake, “an old woman/[r]ises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish”. The poet uses the image of “a terrible fish” to invoke a shock in readers since such image is dehumanizing as the society only associate one’s identity with the superficial idea of physical beauty. The use of “terrible” also creates a dark and monstrous quality to it. The “old woman”, possesses wrinkly skin and an ugly appearance similar to the “terrible fish”, clings to the past. The “terrible fish” which opens its mouth at the lake surface and gasps for air resembles the woman who struggles to leg go of her long lost youth and beauty as they are both looking for something outside the lake. The social expectation of woman’s unchanging beauty and eternal youth erases the true meaning of women’s identity and life goals.

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Furthermore, the social assigned roles on women also suffocate women’s quest for identity. Women, during the 50s, were expected to get married and be a housewife – have babies, take care of the mundane household chores and serve their husbands. Yet, Plath did not want to conform to all these expectations constructed by the society. She yearned to be a writer and such desire inside her is rebellious to the traditionally assigned role of women. The poet draws the similarity between the social expectation on women and mirror’s mistaking the wall as its heart. In the first stanza, the mirror mistakenly believes that the pink wall “is a part of my heart” because “[it] ha[s] looked at it so long”. Here, the mirror represents the woman in the poem while the wall stands for the society. When we “look” at the society longer and deeper, we start to see the society teaches us how we should behave. For example, we were taught that boys should like blue and girls should like pink. Therefore, the mistaken heart is also a symbol of the social imposed identity on women while the true self is the woman’s real heart. The conventional idea of how men and women should act has long been here and sometimes we believe that they are right and true. The traditional image of women turns into an obstruction in the woman’s search for identity, as she believes that ‘housewife’ and ‘child bearer’ are the only titles she owns. Plath believes that only “faces” and “darkness” can “separate” her and the society, in other words, break through these stereotypes. When a woman is given another face, such as a man’s one, she is no longer bounded by the assigned roles of women. Under the circumstance of complete “darkness”, we cannot see each other and hence, all the presumptions of how we should act are gone. By limiting women’s identity only as housewives, it also hinders women from taking a step forward to figure who they want to be.

Another important factor that obstructs women’s journey to discover their identities is men. The woman in the poem does not only search for her identity through her reflection from the mirror, she also “turns to those liars, the candles or the moon”. Candles and the moon are often associated with romance because of candlelight dinner and moonlight walk. Even though both candles and the moon are luminous, they do not give out constant and bright light: candle’s light flickers and the moon reflects the sunlight for its luminosity. Women turn to men, who are portrayed as a figure of authority and power, to search for their identities are in fact looking for men’s confirmation. In the 50s and 60s, people were accustomed to seeing women as men’s property. Most men back then viewed women as object to satisfy their sexual desires. Hence, turning to men only proves women’s sexuality without constructively develop other possible identity of women. According to Plath’s biography, she found out about Hughes’ infidelity and wrote Mirror in 1961. Plath was lied to, hurt and abandoned by Hughes. In such an unhealthy relationship, turning to the deceiving men to figure out your self-definition and self-understanding is not helpful, if not futile.

Last but not least, the mirror and the woman herself also hamper her will to find her true self. The poem portrays the persona as both the mirror and the woman. In the first line of the poem, “I am silver and exact”, the word “silver” is a word play of the poet’s name – Sylvia. Therefore, both the mirror and the woman are the poet herself. By using the mirror imagery, two images or selves are created: the real one and the reflection in the mirror, the true self and the society assigned one. The duality of self in the poem parallels Plath’s double being in her life. “The mirror” is the self she presented to the society. As a woman, she was “exact” – well disciplined and met all the requirements to be the ideal woman. As a poet, she was the “little god” of poetry and “truthful” in reflecting the world through her words. Yet, under the mask of the well put-together Plath lies a creative, autonomy and identity seeking self. The dual images often confuse the woman who is exploring her true self and become an obstacle in her way of self-discovery.

Furthermore, the woman also has a heavy reliance on the mirror for the reflection as she visits the lake “every morning” and the lake is “important to [the woman]”. The mirror claims that it is fair and never judgmental. Nonetheless, it is people who judge themselves all the time. Purely looking at the two-dimensional reflections makes women only focus on their physical appearance and neglects the depth of their inner self. Through only considering her identity in one light – the mirror – and assuming that there is only one true self instead of acknowledging that humans are multifaceted, she is only searching for her true self from one point of view. Therefore, she is also limiting herself of other possible way to pursue her true self.

Overall, the melancholy and bitterness of Mirror illustrates the struggle between the woman’s true self and the external factors that suppress her quest for identity. Her heavy reliance on reflector – the mirror and the lake – symbolizes her desperate desire to look for her true self and her inner psyche. Unlike Plath, many women in the world failed to recognize their identity and only lived a life that constantly fulfilling others’ expectations. In the 21st century where people look for gender equality, women’s quest for true self are not as suppressed as before. Yet, there are still some stereotypes and conventional ideas that women have to follow, hindering them to gain true autonomy and decide what they want to be.