Mirror By Sylvia Plath Analysis
The desire to be seen as beautiful is one that affects a countless amount of people. It is pervasive throughout society. This desire had prompted the creation of make-up, fashion, skincare creams and other products that claim to offer the ability to stay young and beautiful forever. It is what makes the fictional fountain of youth so alluring. It drives people to obsess over their appearance and fret over imperfections and the effects of aging. The poem “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath reflects this struggle. Plath successfully uses a unique speaker, setting, and imagery to depict the craving for everlasting beauty.
One of the most interesting aspects of the poem is who—or rather what—the speaker is. In the first stanza, the narrator is depicted as
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After viewing her reflection, the woman “turns back to those liars, the candles or the moon. / I see her back, and reflect it faithfully” (12-13). The light from the candles and moon can distort her image and appearance. While this may make her look nicer, the reality is that her beauty remains the same. In today’s society, the same can be said for makeup or filters. Meanwhile, even when she is not looking, the mirror is still reflecting her how she really is. The mirror observes that “she rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands” (14). Far from grateful for the mirror’s honesty, the woman becomes upset with what she sees. And yet, despite the fact that her reflection is upsetting her, she continues to check it. She is likely hoping that her image will miraculously morph into what she wishes it to look like. The poignant part of the poem consists of the last few lines: “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish” (17-18). No matter how much she dreads it, she is still aging, day by day. She will one day become old and have wrinkles adorn her skin, have her hair thin and her eyes dull. And yet she wastes her time at the lake, gazing at her reflection and fretting about what she cannot change. Each day she comes closer to what she does not want, yet she fails to appreciate the beauty she has while she has
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