Depression In Lady Lazarus And Daddy

Depression can be really be a tough battle, especially having to go to war with everyday of your life. In both poems “Daddy”, and “ Lady Lazarus”, by Sylvia Plath, she illustrates her battle with depression. In “Daddy”, Plath feels like she is living in a black shoe. She feels like this because has been controlled by her dads thought for thirty years, and cannot get rid of him. She expresses that her father was controlling by having a Nazi-Jew type of relationship, her day being the Nazi, and Plath being a Jew. She is also scared of him, because her father never showed compassion for her, as his heart is brute. Plath also thinks about when her dad had died when she was ten, and tried killing herself when she was twenty. Instead of killing herself, she had met a man who was just like her father, which she had married for seven years. Unfortunately they had split up, because the guy she had dated was just like her dad. Furthermore, she is upset at the male role model that she had in life, which makes her angry at her dad. In “Lady Lazarus”, Plath thinks about death as her depression. Every ten years she wants to kill herself, thinking that will solve her problems, but she always finds a way to stay alive. Plath thinks one day she will eventually do it as her grave will be her new home. She thinks she will do this nine times, meaning she will be ninety when it’s her last, because she does this every decade. Her first time that she thought about killing herself was she was ten, which was an accident. The second time tried killing herself was when she was twenty, and thought she was going to die then. Dying to Plath would feel good as age wants to die, because everything people had put her through. The way she wants to die is to burn through ash, as she will rise up from one day to avenge the men that had did her wrong. Even though “Daddy”, and “Lady Lazarus” have the same theme with depression, but “Daddy” infers why she is depressed, while “Lady Lazarus”, Plath just talks about killing herself, I will claim “Daddy” does a better job at telling why she is depressed.

In the poem “Lady Lazarus”, Sylvia Plath uses depression by wanting to kill herself. Killing is one form of depression many people have having suicidal thoughts is linked with depression. In Todays Women and Depression, Linda Bailey says “The Diagnosed and Statical Manuel of Mental Disorders III uses one of the following criteria to diagnose a major depressive episode” (30). One of the symptoms Bailey writes is that “recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, wishes to be dead, or suicide attempt. (31). The first thing she says in “Lady Lazarus” was, “I have done again. One in every ten years I mange it a sort of walking miracle” (1-4). That walking miracle Plath talks about was death. She has been past this walking miracle twice, as she states “the first time it happen when I was ten it was an accident, the second time I meant it to last and not come back at all” (35-37). Plath had given up, as she “rocked shut like seashell” (39-40). The only way Plath had come back, was somebody coming into it as, and taking the negativity out of it as she calls “worms” (42). When she takes the negativity out, Plath claims this comeback is “a miracle” (54), and that she needs to heal for another ten years, before she try’s to die again, as she calls it “eyeing of my scars, there is a charge” (53). Plath goes through this cycle at least nine times, she says, “and like the cat I have nine times to die this is number three” (21). Meaning now Plath is thirty, and will go through this until she is ninety. Plath feels like this cycle of living life, and then dying once the decade ends will go on forever. As she is stuck to death as she says “my right foot a paperweight” (7). When it comes to dying, Plath gets excited, she thinks of death as of something somebody puts their heart into, like poetry, as she says, “Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well” (43-45). Plath, wants to die, because you can tell what she has been through a lot When she says, “ I do it so it feels like hell. I do it it to feel real.” (46-47). This is when Plath feels like life is real, ironically dying. When Plath eventually has her ninth life, she warns “beware” (81). Plath will be happy about everything, and will not be depressed, as she states “ I rise with my red hair, and I eat men like air” (83-84). Meaning she will finally rise up where she feels the most powerful, and will avenge against men that had did her wrong.

In the poem, “Daddy”, Sylvia Plath is depressed by the way her father had died. Plath grew up in poor conditions her of being poor when she was little, losing her dad made it worse. Plath wants to kill her dad out of her head even though he has died. She says this in her poem that, “Daddy, I have had to kill you. You died before I had time.” (6-7). At a time when Plaths had just died, she had wish he had came back for her but never did. She even says in her poem “I used to pray to recover you” (14). Plath did not see her dad, a whole lot before he died, you can infer that, because Plath says “in the German tongue, in Polish town scrapped flat by roller of wars, wars, wars” (16-19). Plath also infers that “ there are dozen or two” (21). So since there was multiple of wars going on Plath could never find where her father was, because he was out fighting, so before he died, Plath did not have a chance to talk to her father, and now she is upset. She doesn’t want to to talk like her dad, as spoke German, she says in her poem “the language obscene” (30). Then Plath says in her poem “ I began to talk like a Jew, I think I may as well be a Jew” (34-35). I feel like she feels like this, because since her dad was speaking German, she had to speak the opposite, meaning she feels like she is controlled, since Plath was treated like a Jew. Plath had also compared her dad to a Nazi, she says this her poem that “ I had always been scared of you, with your Luftwaffe, your gobbledydoo, and your neat mustache, and your aryan eye bright, blue” (41-44). She uses this comparison to show what her dad look like to her. To be a Nazi you had to be perfect with blue eyes. She also uses the mustache to infer her dad was Hitler, because of his neat mustache. Plath wanted to actually be able to be with her father, by dying. You can tell this by when she says “ I was ten when they buried you, at twenty I tried to die, and get back, back, back to you” (56-59). Luckily Plath did not die, so since she could not be with her father in the afterlife, she had tried to find somebody who was just like her father, as she says in poem “ I made a model of you, a man in black with a Meinkampf look” (65). Unfortunately, it did not work out, as Plath says “ the vampire who said he was you and drank my blood for year, for seven years” (72-74). Now Plath is mad at the male role models that have been in her life. She ends her poem calling her dad a “bastard” (79).

Even though “Daddy”, and “Lady Lazarus” are relatable, and have similarities with theme of depression, “Daddy”, does of better job of getting her message across. In Plath poem “Daddy”, she gives the message of why she is depressed, and that’s from her dad, and her ex-husband, who was the model of her dad. Both guys ended up hurting her, with her dad dying and her ex-husband that was supposed to be the model of her of dad hurts her. In “Lady Lazarus”, ot paints you the picture of how dying feels for her. However, you never understand why she wants to die. You just know that every ten years she gets to the point where she wants to die, but manages to escape death. I also believe that “Daddy”, gives you an imagine that you can relate too. In “Daddy”, many people can relate to having a love one gone at young age, no matter if its having an immediate family member dying or divorce it can cause dramatic results. Those dramatic result, can cause depression. I know by not having a father in my life I grew up just like Plath, being poor, not being able to feel wanted from my father, and just wishing to find models that are like my dad to replace him. Many others go through wishing the same. In Pathways Linking Divorce with Adolescent Depression, by Robert H. Aseltine, Jr. “although finical difficulties are associated with depression in both groups, youths in single parent families are more vulnerable to their depressive effects, than youths in intact families” (140).In Parental Absence during Childhood and Depression in Later Life by Paul R. Amato also indicates that “growing up in a single-parent family may have indirect effects on adult well-being by increasing the risk of certain stressful conditions later” (546). With that being said, being in Plath shoes must have been really tough, after losing her father at ten years, and you can understand why she goes through these difficulties in life. Both poems are relatable, because both poems spinoff from each other. You need to read each one to understand, where Plath is coming from. “Daddy”, answers the question of why Plath wants to die every ten years. By knowing that Plath, father died when she was ten years old, her growing up in poor conditions, and as well see the man that was suppose to be hurt her for seven years while they were married, you get the urge of why she is depressed.

Depression can come in many forms. In “Lady Lazarus”, Plath was depressed, because she had suicidal thoughts every decade she came across. In her poem “ Daddy”, she was depressed, because of her dad losing his life when she was only ten years old. She was also depressed, because her ex-husband treated her just like her dad, which she did not like. Many people go through the same thing as Plath, losing a love one at young age, having to deal with single parent issues, or even having financial problems. Plath makes “Daddy”, relatable to everybody who had a single parent growing up. Even though “Daddy”, and “Lady Lazarus” have the same theme with depression, but “Daddy” infers why she is depressed, while “Lady Lazarus”, Plath just talks about killing herself, I will claim “Daddy” does a better job at telling why she is depressed.

Works cited

1. Bailey, Linda. “Today's Women and Depression.” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 1983, pp. 30–38. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27505715.
2. Amato, Paul R. “Parental Absence during Childhood and Depression in Later Life.” The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 4, 1991, pp. 543–556. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4120902.
3. Aseltine, Robert H. “Pathways Linking Parental Divorce With Adolescent Depression.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 37, no. 2, 1996, pp. 133–148. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2137269.
4. “Internal.org Poets.” Daddy - Sylvia Plath, https://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Daddy.
5. “Internal.org Poets.” Lady Lazarus - Sylvia Plath, https://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Lady_Lazarus.