Q: To what extent can Marxism be applied to the poem, ‘Daddy’, written by Sylvia Plath?
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A: Marxist Literary Criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they originate. This being said, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author. It includes analysing the class constructs conveyed in the literature and examines the ways in which texts reveals ideological oppression of a dominant economic ruling class over the subordinate working classes. It is here used to analyse ‘Daddy’, written by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). The poem is supposedly to be about the psychological relationship Plath had with her father, Otto Emil Plath. Her poem makes great use of metaphor, alliteration, repetition, symbolism and imagery. The poem was written by Plath on the 12th of October, 1962. It was written a year before Plath’s suicide on the 11th of February, 1963. The poem was published posthumously, in her vast collection of poetry named Ariel, in 1965. It is a rancorous and brutal poem, consisting of sixteen-five line stanzas. Within the poem, the language alternates between a lyrical tone and an ironic critique of the endless depth of despair Plath feels. ‘Daddy’ works in its entirety by creating a replica of Plath’s supposed psychic state in the readers, so that we almost re-live her despair, horror, rage, revenge, insanity and masochism. Throughout ‘Daddy’ there is an emotionally distraught rhythm, almost bringing us as readers to the comprehension of Plath’s tortured mental state. In the exact same sentiment that Marxism is concerned with alienation, the overwhelming impression of the poem is that of alienation, amongst others. In addition, Plath clearly expresses her personal unsettling relationship with her father, Otto. Otto passed away when she was eight years old, so there is clear difficulty with moving forward, his memory taunts and haunts his daughter, and the un-resolved feelings of losing an important parent flows throughout the poem. Plath emphasises this alienation: from his personality (“Love of the rock and screw”), his ethnicity (“Aryan eye / bright blue”), his beliefs (“A man in black with a Meinkampf look”) and his lifestyle (“neat mustache”). It can be said that this sense of alienation from a Marxist outlook, which Plath feels for Otto, is what the subordinate working classes felt of the more economically dominant ruling classes. Also, there is an unmistakable sense of hatred towards Otto for abandoning her at such a young age, which ties in with her overwhelming sense of agony. Plath thought very highly of her father, so highly in fact she refers to him as an icon, calling him a Nazi, which almost raises him to the same level as Hitler. “I have always been scared of you / With your Luftwaffe, your gobbleygoo. / And your neat mustache / And your Aryan eye, bright blue / Panzer-man, Panzer-man, O You---” - By this stanza, Plath states “I have always been scared of you” just as a worker would be of their employer. This can link to Marxism because the working classes (the proletariats) were “always scared” of the ruling classes (the bourgeoisie) as they would not know what was going to happen to them, which is similar to Plath’s relationship with her father, Otto. In addition, Plath has made it clear that she is dominated by and in fear of her father, and she will always perceive him as someone above her. Thus, this can link back to Marxism because not only do the ruling classes had a hierarchy and a system which the working classes in society knew where they were, but they always knew who was above them. Due to this, it can be said that this is a distinct connection to Plath’s relationship with Otto - she understood and knew who had the control, power and influence on her life. Coinciding in with this, it can be said that Plath’s marriage to former late poet, Ted Hughes, was about how she was enthralled by him when they met at Cambridge University - but was “always scared of you” -which interlinks the similar feelings she had about her father. Furthermore, Otto Plath, Plath’s father, seems to personify the horrors of German fascism because “It stuck in a barb wire snare. / Ich, ich, ich, ich, I could hardly speak. / I thought every German was you. / And the language obscene.” - From this stanza, Plath is stating that she is becoming alienated to and from all Germans. It’s almost as if, in her mind and tortured state, that the Germans and the Nazis are one and the same, as if there isn’t any difference. Also, Plath was alienated from the German language with its guttural “Ich, ich, ich, ich” and “And the language obscene” which is a direct connection to Marxism because not only was alienation at the central focal point of the theory, but more so that the working classes within the system weren’t only being alienated from society as a whole, but from themselves. As a direct link to Plath’s own life it can be said that she was being alienated within her marriage to Hughes, but more so her fraught relationship she once had with Otto. In addition, Plath is stating that is she is scared of the German language. Moreover, class exploitation is a theme which is explored within the poem. “An engine, an engine / Chuffing me off like a Jew. / A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. / I began to talk like a Jew. / I think I may well be a Jew.” - In using this Holocaust imagery of the Jews being taken to the concentration camps, Plath is showing that she has no control over her life, or what happened to her. She is haunted by Otto’s memory, which is being re-lived in the negative thoughts she has of him. No matter what Plath was attempting to achieve, Otto was always going to be in her mind, her head, and never loosened his grip. From a Marxist viewpoint, aside from the language use of onomatopoeia (‘Chuffing’) and repetition (‘An engine, an engine’), they believed that the working classes had no idea what was going to occur in their lives, or what was going to happen to them. Also, that the ruling classes power and dominance was always going to be haunting them, no matter what the working classes did. On the one hand, it can be said this stanza can be interpreted as that they had a hierarchy implemented by the ruling classes which benefitted them. It is a definite relation to Plath’s relationship she had with Otto - he had complete control, and Sylvia, saw herself as the exploited working classes. Thus, this can interlink in with Marxism, because the working classes knew who had complete control over them: the ruling classes, just as Plath knew who did in her relationship with her father.
On the other hand, it can be said that Otto and Sylvia’s tenuous relationship was that he was a German Nazi and she as a Jew, so on a historical and actual level, which ties in with an emotional element, it is one that conveys that Sylvia was the tortured and Otto was the torturer. In this sense, love and brutality become savagely intermingled. Similarly, linking this in with Marxism, it can be said that the ruling classes can be said that they were the Germans (the torturers) and the working classes were the Jews (the tortured). Furthermore, “In the German tongue, in the Polish town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars. / But the name of the town is common. / My Polack friend” - By this stanza, with Plath’s reference to “in the Polish town / Scraped flat by the roller / Of wars, wars, wars.” - is very much a Marxist theme. It can be comprehended that Karl Marx thought that wars provided the dual roles of allowing profiteering from arms, and of keeping workers under control through patriotism. From a Marxist perspective, it kept the working classes under the control of and by the ruling classes.
However, “wars, wars, wars” can be interpreted in two ways. One way were the “wars” she was never going to win with Otto re-living, almost being resurrected through her astringent memories of him. Another way was the “wars” she had to face within her explosive marriage to Hughes. In conclusion, ‘Daddy’, written by Sylvia Plath in 1962, is one of her most elegiac and most famous pieces of works. The poem can be applied to Marxism for numerous reasons, i.e. Plath demonstrates there is no limit to the callous brutality of a class structured society. Also, it conveys the true notion that it emphasises the war in Plath’s soul, her father, Otto Emil Plath as a Nazi, and her, as a Jew. The entire poem is filled with darkness and horrifying imagery. However, it is a confessional and a somewhat auto-biographical poem, which details in depth a Marxist theory throughout.
Bibliography: - http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/152917
- http://www.neuroticpoets.com/plath/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath 