EDGE(Feb 11 1958)
- Sylvia Plath
The women is perfected
Her dead
Body wears the smile of accomplishment.
The illusion of a Greek necessity
flows in the scrolls of her toga
Her bare
feet seem to be saying
We have come so far, it is over.
Each dead child coiled, a white serpent
One at each little
Pitcher of milk, now empty
She has folded
them back into her body as petals
of a rose close when the garden
stiffens and odours bleed
From the sweet, deep throats of the night -flower
The moon has nothing to be sad about,
Staring from her hood of bone
She is used to this sort of things
Her backs crackle and drag.
Sylvia Plath, an American woman writer is famous for her symbols of death and suicidal themes through her works. In most of her works she has revealed herself as a woman aspiring for death. The concept of death seems to be an unresolved mystery even now. And woman like Sylvia Plath has grown ardent to find out the mystery in that. Death is always portrayed positively by Plath in her poems. Even the poem Edge is not an exceptional to it.
The poem Edge by Sylvia Plath was published on February 11 1958. She begins her poem by expressing that women
can be perfected only in her death. According to her, women cannot be unchained from all her fetters until and unless she is dead. This is the reason why she hon ours death in this poem. Only after death, women's life is accomplished and that is evident through the smile on the dead body of a woman.
" Her dead,
Body wears the smile of accomplish
meant"
Plath, in order to support this idea on death she draws an example from Greek mythology. She brings in the illusional concept of mythology through the character called Medea, who sends a poisoned dress to kill the princess. Because her husband Jason deserted her to marry that princess. This is a poisoned dress motif in Greek mythology.
"The illusion of a greek necessity
flows in the scrolls of her toga"
Sylvia Plath herself has been compared to Medea as she has an unhappy married life. Also the comparison of toga can be comprehended as an insecure life of women in society. And sometimes the persons who ought to secure them, turns out to be an evil in their(women's) own life.
And that kind of frustration is expressed through Plath by all these comparisons.
Also Medea is a character who kills her own blood relations out of pain that she gets from the person whom she trust. It's like she kills herself emotionally by killing her own flesh (her children and her father). Similarly.according to Plath ; a woman torments herself by exposing her madness to others due to the pain that she recieves from the society. At one point she will get fed up of everything and will rest in peace , which means death is the only medium of peace.
"Her bare,
feet seem to be saying
we have come so far, it is over"
Then, the following lines in the poem deals with the comparison of women's phases of life to an incidents in the life of Medea . I.e., Medea kills all her children not because she hates her children but because of the hatred and love that she has for Jason, a man who remains as a cause for all her mad behavior.
Plath justifies this act of Medea in her poem. She says that Medea, by killing her children " she has folded them back into her body" from where all her children came out to this world. The word " the garden" refers to the body of Medea( woman) who holds all her children in her body as the petals of rose and she bleeds that sweet odour outside. This refers to the sacrifice of women both physically and mentally for the sake of her loved ones. They concieve the pain inside and deliver happiness and comfort outside.
Again Plath compares the women to the " night flower" who is being used for pleasure by men during night, there too she remains as a flower spreading fragrance. The line " The moon has nothing to be sad about" refers to the male dominated society that does not cares any of this sacrifice of women. But if one notices it from the perspective of women ( " her hood of bone"), one can understand that she has got used to all these kinds of pains because " her backs crackle and drag" which means pains became a part of her body right from the day she starts to menstruate. So accepting pains is not at all a big deal in case of women, but justice to all her pains can be attained only through her death according to Sylvia Plath.
Therefore Sylvia Plath reveals the painful introvertedness of women in comparison to Greek mythological character Medea. Also as usual she never fails to give death as a solution for the pains in the life of a woman. And this ideology of Plath is due to her bitter conception of her own life.
The poem Edge by Sylvia Plath was published on February 11 1958. She begins her poem by expressing that women
can be perfected only in her death. According to her, women cannot be unchained from all her fetters until and unless she is dead. This is the reason why she hon ours death in this poem. Only after death, women's life is accomplished and that is evident through the smile on the dead body of a woman.
" Her dead,
Body wears the smile of accomplish
meant"
Plath, in order to support this idea on death she draws an example from Greek mythology. She brings in the illusional concept of mythology through the character called Medea, who sends a poisoned dress to kill the princess. Because her husband Jason deserted her to marry that princess. This is a poisoned dress motif in Greek mythology.
"The illusion of a greek necessity
flows in the scrolls of her toga"
Sylvia Plath herself has been compared to Medea as she has an unhappy married life. Also the comparison of toga can be comprehended as an insecure life of women in society. And sometimes the persons who ought to secure them, turns out to be an evil in their(women's) own life.
And that kind of frustration is expressed through Plath by all these comparisons.
Also Medea is a character who kills her own blood relations out of pain that she gets from the person whom she trust. It's like she kills herself emotionally by killing her own flesh (her children and her father). Similarly.according to Plath ; a woman torments herself by exposing her madness to others due to the pain that she recieves from the society. At one point she will get fed up of everything and will rest in peace , which means death is the only medium of peace.
"Her bare,
feet seem to be saying
we have come so far, it is over"
Then, the following lines in the poem deals with the comparison of women's phases of life to an incidents in the life of Medea . I.e., Medea kills all her children not because she hates her children but because of the hatred and love that she has for Jason, a man who remains as a cause for all her mad behavior.
Plath justifies this act of Medea in her poem. She says that Medea, by killing her children " she has folded them back into her body" from where all her children came out to this world. The word " the garden" refers to the body of Medea( woman) who holds all her children in her body as the petals of rose and she bleeds that sweet odour outside. This refers to the sacrifice of women both physically and mentally for the sake of her loved ones. They concieve the pain inside and deliver happiness and comfort outside.
Again Plath compares the women to the " night flower" who is being used for pleasure by men during night, there too she remains as a flower spreading fragrance. The line " The moon has nothing to be sad about" refers to the male dominated society that does not cares any of this sacrifice of women. But if one notices it from the perspective of women ( " her hood of bone"), one can understand that she has got used to all these kinds of pains because " her backs crackle and drag" which means pains became a part of her body right from the day she starts to menstruate. So accepting pains is not at all a big deal in case of women, but justice to all her pains can be attained only through her death according to Sylvia Plath.
Therefore Sylvia Plath reveals the painful introvertedness of women in comparison to Greek mythological character Medea. Also as usual she never fails to give death as a solution for the pains in the life of a woman. And this ideology of Plath is due to her bitter conception of her own life.
