Female Inequality In Sylvia Plath's Poem

Inequality is and has been a huge problem in societies all over the nation. Whether it revolves around race, sexual orientation, age, or gender, inequality is a term that relies on prejudice and discrimination. In this case, female inequality is based on preconceived notions following the role of women in many situations. Thus, could include the role of a woman during childhood, during everyday life, while in a conjugal relationship, or during motherhood. Sylvia Plath’s poems “Morning Song”, “Lady Lazarus”, and “Daddy” all have a common theme that could be explored. Although these poems do not proclaim that the speaker is against female inequality, many undertones clarify that protesting female inequality after World War II is a major part

The introduction to Sylvia Plath in the Norton Anthology gives insight into “Daddy” and how the poem is meant to be read. It states the following. “While her poems often begin in autobiography, their success depends on Plath’s imaginative transformation of experience into myth, as in a number of her poems (such as “Daddy”) where the figure of her Prussian father is transformed into an emblem of masculine authority.” (Hungerford, page 621) Based on the information given in the introduction, the contents of the poem become much more obvious. The poem, like “Lady Lazarus” has a lot of mentions of the holocaust, however, in this case it relates to the speaker’s father. It is through this and other descriptions that Plath’s paints the speakers father and her own father as that emblem for masculine authority that the introduction to Sylvia Plath mentions. These comparisons and descriptions are negative and already paint the father and men in general in a bad light. She evens goes as far as comparing the man she married to her father, saying she has found him in his model. On multiple occasions, the speaker says she is through like in the following citation. “There’s a stake in your fat black heart/ And the villagers never liked you. / They are dancing and stamping on you. / They always knew it was you. / Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.” (Plath, “Daddy”, line 76-80). This is the speaker finally realizing her ideas surrounding men and the things they have done to her, especially her father. The speaker has overcome the things that have happened to her whether it be done by her father or by men. The speaker clarifies she is through with her father, but considering what her father represents, it could be men in general. It is possible that Plath is using her own experience to explain how she feels about men and how