Carli Baker

“Daddy, Daddy, You Bastard, I’m Through”: Legend Imagery in Sylvia Plath Poetry

Legends are stories that have enthralled entire civilizations for centuries, suspending reality and transporting the audience into a world full of vivid, intense images. Likewise, Sylvia Plath also has to ability to create a world unto itself with her abundance of expressive imagery, and complex themes throughout all of her poems. In particular, her usage of legend imagery is particular interesting due to the sub textual meanings they hold. Two images that are particularly lucid are the images of the vampire and the Colossus in both “Daddy” and “The Colossus” which demonstrate her feelings towards her father, and the influence he held over her life.
In legends, vampires are seen as mysterious, cold and lethal, although they are also portrayed as very alluring, charismatic and captivating. In both poems, Plath uses this image to demonstrate the complexities of her relationship with her father, both in life and death. In “The Colossus”, Plath refers to her father as a “mouthpiece of the dead” and tells of how she had to “dredge the silt from your throat”. (“The Colossus” 7 and 9) Both lines bring forth visions of the undead, animated corpses which are able to function in our world, but are not truly living. Although he father died when she was young, barely eight years old, her entire life was still constantly affected by her father, and he still had a significant role in her life, even while dead. Similarly, in “Daddy” Plath says, “Daddy you can lie back now./ There’s a stake in your fat, black heart.” (“Daddy” 75-76) These lines are much more striking, for she gives a direct allusion to vampires, and expresses her inward feelings towards her father. She is trying to kill her father’s memory, in an attempt to regain her own life and to overcome his influence. The image of the vampire may also allude to a mental illness. When she read ream her poem “Daddy” on the BBC, she began by saying that the speaker was “a girl with Electra Complex”. ( Scott 163) In this light, the vampire image gains new footing, she is enamored with her father and needs to recreate him in something fictional to keep him alive in her memories. However, the end of these lines show her want to overcome this and to live her own life. Overall, the image of vampires demonstrates her preoccupation with her father, even after death, and illustrates the issues he has caused in her life.
Another striking legendary image in that of the Colossus. The story of the Colossus in Greek mythology is of the town of Rhodes, which in around 304 BC built a monstrous statue after their god, Helios. It took twelve years to complete and stood over 150 ft high, however an earthquake caused it to break up and the Colossus was destroyed. (Krystek) In both poems this image is used to how Plath viewed her father: strong, grand but cold. In “The Colossus” Plath states, “I shall never get you put together entirely” (“The Colossus” 1) This line relates her father’s death to the destruction of the Colossus which not only shows how monumental his death was in her life but also shows how immeasurable his effect was on the rest of her life. In “Daddy” Plath describes her father a bit differently. “Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,/Ghastly statue with one gray toe/ Big as a Frisco seal/And a head in the freakish Atlantic” (“Daddy 9-11) This image is a bit more literal, not only again relating her father’s death to the destruction of the Colossus, but it also directly correlates her father to the actual statue. This images portrays her father as something beyond normal, which is not healthy. This engrossment with her father goes back to her Electra Complex in which she wishes for a deeper relationship with her father. However, on the other side of this, it seems that her father did not return the same feelings. She uses the Colossus to give the image of cold, and dead and distant, which shows that although she cared deeply for him, it may have been from a distance, for he was still obscure and removed from her.
Sylvia Plath had many preoccupations over her fathers death, all of which are apparent in her poetry. He was such an influential figure in her life, and their relationship was so close, it bordered unhealthy, and so his sudden death caused major repercussions for the rest of her life. However her love of her father does not mean that he was a great dad. Both images illustrate him as a giant, something so huge it cannot be real, and both show him as severe, someone very reserved and cold. These images she chose also show her obsession with his death, both images are dead, therefore no matter how hard she tries, she cannot accept him as either dead or alive, so his memory is stuck in a purgatory of sorts. Overall, Sylvia Plath was brutally traumatized both by her overzealous love of her father, and of his untimely death. This double traumatization caused major mental instability and is not only shown in her poetry, but in the usage of legend imagery.
Word Count: 810