Warda Nawaz

Is it Really a “Poultice”?: Marriage and Injury in Plath’s Poems
“The union of two souls”, “infinite bliss”…these are the things people are told when asked about marriage. But in reality, marriage is far from being blissful and successful, as Sylvia Plath points out in many of her poems. This wonderful concept of marriage is shattered when looking carefully at the true meaning behind her words. In the poems “The Applicant” and “Two Sisters of Persephone”, Plath uses injury to show the necessity of getting married and also the pain that comes with it.
First, Plath portrays unmarried couple as broken and worthless. In the opening lines of her poem “The Applicant”, Sylvia is questioning a man about how he feels to be by himself. She almost considers him not human, but something else: “Do you wear a glass eye, false teeth… rubber breasts, [and] stitches to show something’s missing?” (“The Applicant 3, 5-6). All these body parts are shown broken and are replaced with other images that show that the man is very out of place right now. He is pretending to mend himself with stitches, but he is failing because there is no one to look after him. As a result, Plath is making marriage sound like the remedy for all these injuries by saying, “You have a hole, it’s a poultice” (37). A poultice is a heated substance applied on cloth that can pressed to warm a wound or sore. By saying marriage is a “poultice” it is like saying that marriage will warm up, or relieve the wounds the man has. In contrast, Plath is mocking the woman in her other poem by saying, “the wry virgin to the very last, goes graveward, worm-husbanded, yet no woman” (“Two Sisters of Persephone”26-8). The poor woman who decided to stay single and not go through troubles of marriage is found in the grave because she chose not to experience the responsibilities of becoming a wife and a mother. It shows how going against nature’s standards and also societal standards can cause a bad outcome. Because she decided to live by herself, she had a short life and died early because she ignored society’s expectations.
Despite the fact that marriage is illustrated as a solution to the problems they have, Plath also looks down at marriage. She criticizes the responsibilities the wife has in her relationship. In short, Plath is criticizing the role of women in the society and the expectations the societies have of them.. The fact that she will have to “roll away headaches and do whatever you tell it” (“The Applicant” 12) shows that the wife will be responsible for keeping the relationship intact. This means that her role will be that of a stereotypical housewife, but it will be very important one. Plath also uses strong imagery in other poem to describe sex rather painfully. By doing so, she is looking down on it and showing the reality of marriage: “She sees how their red silk flare of petaled blood burns open to the sun’s blade” (“Two Sisters of Persephone” 17-19). Someone outside is looking in and seeing a couple have sex. She observes it as something rather inviting, but also hurtful. Even though flowers are used to describe sex, she is also using other imagery, like blood and blade, which show injury. This is not an appealing experience for a wife. It is carnal, grotesque, and also hurtful. We see the truth of what the woman has to go through to bear a child. The ideal, or the concept of bliss is far gone.
In conclusion, Sylvia Plath shows that marriage is necessary part of life especially because humans are incomplete without it. If not married, both pairs will feel injured and broken. However, marriage itself will not solve all the problems: some of the pain will continue, in particularly for the wife.